AVI will put on three cooking classes that will last two hours each at Weisenfluh Dining Hall throughout the remainder of the spring semester.
The cooking classes will cost $5 to attend, and will last from 6-8 p.m.
The three classes will be campus survival for students, homestyle cooking and sushi. The campus survival class will occur on Tuesday night, and teach students how to cook simple meals with only the use of a few ingredients and a microwave. Homestyle night, on March 28, will include making chili, soup and cornbread. Finally, the class on sushi will teach attendees to roll sushi the proper way.
Carina Iannarelli, marketing specialist for AVI Foodsystems, said these classes came about from a survey that was given to students last semester. The goal was to impress students with something new, Iannarelli said. The credit goes to Mark Lisowski, resident director for AVI Foodystems, Iannarelli said.
“He was a chef for our company for over 30 years,” Iannarelli said. “He is very passionate about food so he volunteered to execute the classes. Our classes that we are offering this semester were created by our management teams right here at The Rock.”
The classes were created because of the desire and want for AVI to create relationships with the students, Iannarelli said. Everyone involved has been a student at one point, and had not much of an idea how to cook, Iannarelli said.
“AVI is very passionate about food but has started, like everyone else, at the very beginning at some point,” Iannarelli. “We’ve all been students at one time, and through years of culinary experience, we wanted to be able to pass along our knowledge to students who are willing to learn. College is a huge culture shock, and some students don’t really learn how to cook until they get here. We want to make the transition a little easier and hope to inspire them to build on what we teach them.”
Students will learn the basics of cooking do’s and don’t, and some basic kitchen tips to help them outside the classes, Iannarelli said.
“They will learn how to hold a knife, and how to cut vegetables the proper way,” Iannarelli said. “The participants will learn techniques and tricks from culinary experts. We are also providing recipe cards and instructions for them so they can replicate it outside of the class.”
AVI put on cooking classes a few years ago and are back this semester improved from previous years. Iannarelli said the hope is to get feedback from students and see if students enjoy the classes. If students like them, then new classes with different items will be offered in the future.
The first class is reserved for 10 people to see how high of an interest there is for cooking lessons. So far, half of those spots have been filled, and more can be opened if the interest is there, Iannarelli said. Iannarelli said the goal is to have these classes be as popular as an event put on earlier in the year.
“Last semester, we introduced Late Night Umami and had over 70 people show up,” Iannarelli said. “We hope that word will get out to the students and if they enjoy it and a lot of people sign up, they will definitely continue. We have already been talking about next year and maybe doing a partner pizza one or a baked goods one. The possibilities are endless.”
