Chefs and Professors Offer Lifestyle Course in D-hall

Focaccia was on the menu as part of the interdisciplinary course "Food for Thought". A few weeks ago students prepared carrot dishes (soup, carrot-apple slaw, and carrot-potato latkes) after harvesting carrots at local CSA Pitney Farm.

This course brings together Skidmore’s mission of combining mind and hand. The mind part includes reading and writing about Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma and Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential. The hand part includes cooking (and eating) with chefs Rose, Niese and Fields. No cellphones, table set with proper crockery and linens: appetites are high and conversation abounds.

 

In addition, students are responsible for completing activities which include eating a fast-food meal and comparing it to a whole food one; visiting Saratoga Farmers’ Market and cooking what they buy; and researching supermarket shelves to find products without high fructose corn syrup. They also watch the film “Wasted” to learn about the problem of how much food we toss. This is a 2-credit course suggested by Executive Chef Rose and presented by Prof. Smith (World Languages and Literature).