Good news for all toast-burners and over-boilers: the Ohio Union Activities Board offers cooking classes in the Union. They can turn you into a bonafide gourmet cook.
The classes are free for all Ohio State undergraduate and graduate students as well as faculty and alumni. They are covered by the activities fee in your tuition. You can get involved and learn your way around a kitchen for no additional charge.
Photo by Huanan Wu
The cooking classes feature different themes, including New Orleans, Easter and chocolate. You can sign up for your top five on the OUAB website and then will receive an email a few days prior to the event if you are on the list to participate.
One of the class’s recent events was a St. Patrick’s Day themed feast. The menu included fennel salad, shepherd’s pie (pictured below), as well as an Irish soup dish called multigawany and scones with cream.
Photo by Huanan Wu
In addition, there have recently been classes offered for cooking German food, participating in Sibs Weekend and making homemade pasta.
Chef Marc Dullin heads the cooking classes. He’s originally from France and has been working in the industry for over 40 years. Chef Dullin is passionate about cooking and loves teaching.
About one event takes place per week. During that time, Chef Dullin does a demonstration on how to prepare each item for the students and then cooks with the group, preparing a whole menu.
Photo by Huanan Wu
I attended a class when the RAs in my dorm set up an event for our building. I was assigned to the station preparing Japanese chicken stir fry and white rice.
Not to brag, but the rice turned out amazing. The chicken, not so much–I ending up burning my saucer of it and Chef had to come over and save the day. Somehow he made my burnt mess into a highly edible dish.
Once everyone was done cooking, we all got to sit and eat the feast we had prepared. The final meal included tabouleh, risotto, chicken stir fry and banana’s foster.
To make things even better, there was plenty of delicious food left over. Take-home containers were available for anyone who wanted to save some for later.
I had a lot of fun at the OUAB cooking classes–I’m definitely heading back there as soon as possible and you should too.
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