The Ohio University Culinary Club is taking shape this semester, offering students a weekly opportunity to learn new recipes and kitchen techniques while meeting other hungry Bobcats.
The OU Culinary Club welcomes students of any experience level. The club provides a space for beginners to seasoned cooks who might transition to teaching roles with leadership opportunities.
Members can expect to work alongside other cooks, acquiring recipes, techniques and safe kitchen practices. Meetings focus on a featured recipe that club members can replicate with the help of officers and fellow members. Its first meetings will mostly include learning simple tasks and basic recipes to get students into culinary arts.
Meetings include splitting into small groups with recipes and bowls set up for members to create at their own pace.
Bennett LeRoy, a junior studying outdoor recreation and management, serves as the president. LeRoy founded the club this semester with hopes of giving students a space to learn to cook and practice kitchen safety.
Recipes include easy and accessible dishes to familiarize newcomers with kitchen procedures. Hoping to make more impressive dishes once the groundwork is laid.
During their first meeting, members made pancakes. The board is planning to create lava cakes and curry, among other recipes, in the future.
“Pretty easy stuff just to get people kind of used to how we're going to run the meetings and just used to cooking because I think most of the people have not cooked too much,” LeRoy said.
LeRoy was raised with a love for cooking because of his father’s culinary background.
“My dad's a semi-professional chef,” LeRoy said. “He does nine-course wine dinners on the side of his regular job.”
LeRoy said his father was told to switch his major from business to culinary while taking a couple of classes in college, due to his expertise and skill.
“He wanted to do (cooking) more as a passion versus a job because he knew that if he took it as a career, he may lose his love for it,” LeRoy said.
LeRoy hopes to bring him in as a judge for a “chop challenge” next semester. LeRoy said his father encouraged him to approach cooking from a place of passion rather than necessity or profession.
The club hopes to spread the same enjoyment for cooking to members, helping students understand that cooking is not something to be afraid of, but an exciting outlet for bonding and personal expression.
Peyton Joseph, a sophomore marketing major and the club’s secretary, said club members can expect to learn basic skills and recipes, such as guacamole and chicken.
“Just a basic solid foundation that you could use to cook meals for your family or your future family,” Joseph said.
The executive board is made up of friends and colleagues that LeRoy recruited, a process that was straightforward, as each member is not judged by their expertise, but by their willingness to learn and help the club grow.
The board is approaching this semester as an opportunity for everyone, including themselves, to expand their abilities in a cooperative and open-minded environment.
Shane Settle, a junior studying finance and business analytics, is the club’s treasurer and said he and the other executives “personally don’t know how to cook,” but they are all learning from their “master chef” or president.
“It's just a good time to learn how to cook, get to know more people around campus, especially the freshmen that are involved in our club,” Settle said. “I feel like I could tell people are getting more friends and creating friend groups throughout the club. It's actually good times.”
The club plans to host various community-oriented events that will showcase club members’ abilities and garner more support for the burgeoning group.
Prospective events like a Halloween celebration, Thanksgiving cook-off and a judged, “Chopped” style cooking competition will allow students to engage with cooking in a unique, social way.
LeRoy was surprised there were not any existing clubs in the culinary realm. He thought there may be plenty of like-minded students hoping to garner kitchen fundamentals and make the art of cooking more approachable.
For interested students, club meetings will be held weekly, every Monday from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the Jefferson Hall Food Lab.
