<cross Division Street and backing up to the Cannon River, Culinary House offers Carls a home away from home. Upon entering Geffert House, the aroma of home cooking greets visitors, inviting them to linger and relax.
A group of students who appreciated the value of a home-cooked meal started Culinary House in 2001. Over the past nine years the interest house has taught many Carls the value of collaboration and enabled exploration in the kitchen. Each year Culinary House applies for approval as an interest house, and house director Janae Green hopes it will soon become permanent to keep the tradition alive.
Tasty meals abound, from salmon and steak to cuisine from around the world. Dinner menus include—but are far from limited to—Chinese, Mexican, Indian, and Vietnamese recipes. Pooling their resources, residents grocery shop and each one cooks dinner once a week, Sunday through Thursday nights.
Though these delicious meals may intimidate the novice cook, Green confesses to only cooking frozen meals before she joined the Culinary House community. By cooking, working and laughing together, she has learned to be comfortable in the kitchen and the joy of cooking. Residents collaborate, reviving old family recipes and experimenting with new techniques. Whether students are experts at peanut butter and jelly or soufflés, all are encouraged to visit and apply to live at Geffert.
Many international students are attracted to Culinary House, giving the community diversity of both backgrounds and culinary experience. Though lunches and breakfasts are up to each resident on their own, dinners at the house offer time to reflect on the day and to discuss how food represents home to each individual. Residents of Culinary House bond as friends but also become like a family.
To involve the larger Carleton community in Culinary House, three events are scheduled each term. Last term involved workshops, an Iron Chef competition, and Dinner & Dessert. This term, on Saturday, Jan. 30, Man v. Food will test the Carls’ taste buds with ultra-spicy three alarm chili. Resident Ashley Dinzey was inspired by the Travel Channel competition Man v. Food. She thought the Culinary House version would be an “awesome challenge” and better than a burrito eating contest.
Later this winter Culinary House will partake in the Women’s Awareness (WA) House’s Speed Dating night with fresh-baked Valentine’s Day cookies as well as Tropical Night with the Office of Intercultural & International Life (OIIL).
All Carls are welcome to come watch and learn during dinner food preparation in the evenings. To share in the meal, students can partner with a resident as a guest chef. Culinary House is more than a prime place to try out recipes; it is a great opportunity to join a community of diverse palates and cultures.