40 AMERICANWAY
NOVEMBER 15 2009
C O O K I N G
After lunch, I head to Introduction to
Gastronomy to taste chocolate and discuss
goût de terroir. We talk about the basic
tastes (sweet, sour, salty, bitter, andumami)
and then move to flavor. If I taste citrus,
what kind is it? Tangelo, Minneola, pixie
tangerine? What memories do I associate
with it? I flash back 15 years tomy time as
anart student and trying todecidewhether
the white in a painting was warm or cool.
A painting, a meal, a sip of wine — each
can become more than a sum of its parts.
It’swhy I imagine these studentshavecome
here: to create dining experiences that go
beyond the simple satisfactionof appetite.
Dinner is in the Introduction to Table
Service and Catering classroom; we’ll get
a taste of our classmates’ cooking as well
as of their table-side skills. Better to spill
souphere, on another student, while you’re
learning thanon thepaying customerswho
fill the CIA’s four restaurants. Most of my
tablemates order coffee with their three-
course dinner; I pass, hoping to get to bed
early becauseBreads class starts at six a.m.
It quickly becomes clear why here, instead
of the freshman-15weight gain, there’s talk
about the freshman 50. I sit down to tuna
tartare, shrimp-and-mussel minestrone,
roast chicken stuffed with cremini mush-
rooms, seasonal vegetables, and crème
brûlée for dessert. There’s also a constant-
ly replenished breadbasket. Two young
women, bothnamedLiz, arediscussing the
merits of a Dairy Queen Blizzard, which
culinary Liz has never tasted, much to the
dismay of baking-and-pastry Liz. They
make aplan to initiate culinaryLiz into the
world of DQ after they get out of a math
class later that evening.
I headover to the rec center, where clubs
like BBQ Pitmasters, the Fine Grind Soci-
ety, and Mixology meet. Perhaps I’ll crash
theFoodAllergyAwareness clubmeeting? I
pass the gyms, and I’mdrawn inby the café
and pub— filledwith the raucous noise of
students consumingburgers and fries. Sud-
denly, I couldbeonanyother campus in the
country. The neon beer signs at the other
sideof the largeroom takeme faraway from
the stained-glasswindows of themainhall.
In short order, I meet a 48-year-old self-
madeexecutivechef returning forhisdegree
andmissing his king-size bed and his dog.
Then I meet Chris, a 25-year-old former
Navy SEAL, who is thinking of starting an
ice-carving club. He’s ordering a pitcher of
Smithwick’s and shrugswhen I suggest that
maybe hospitality and the United States
Navy arewidely variant careers.He sees the
mutual focus on respect and the hierarchy
of command.His trainingserveshimwell in
thechaosofakitchen. “AsaSEAL,oneofour
requirements iswehave to swima50-meter
pool completelyunderwater. Ifyougounder
and start thinking, ‘I can’t breathe,’ you’re
going to tense up; your muscles use more
oxygen,” he tells me. “Potentially anyone in
this room coulddo it— just stay calm, and
you canmake it throughanything.”
IalsomeetAdam, a20-somethingNorth
Carolinanativewho’s inhis secondweek at
Agraduation ceremony at FarquharsonHall
