Tonight, John Jay Dining Hall presented the last special dinner of the semester, a holiday feast that will either send students home eager for better eats or willing to give John Jay another chance. As the dust settles on my first semester at Columbia University and John Jay wraps up another season of mediocre, institutional food, I feel qualified to pose a question worthy of any Literature Humanities paper: if John Jay served this food every night, would students count down the meals left on their dining plans? (more…)
Archive for the ‘Food & Drink’ Category
Indians of the World, Unite!
Last Tuesday evening, “Indians and Indians” joined forces to serve up a feast. As they have done for over five years, the Native American Council joined the Bhakti Club in the latter’s weekly Indian cooking class in celebration of Native American Heritage Month.
About seventy-five people gathered in Lerner’s Broadway Room at 7 PM as a member of the Bhakti Club demonstrated how to make Karhi, or Gujarati yogurt soup. The turmeric-colored soup filled the room with the smells of asafoetida, coriander, and mustard as it simmered in the electric pan on the demo table. As the soup cooked on, attendees clearly became more and more excited for what was to come. Finally, a leader of the club, Dave, wearing heavy tan sweats over his Hare Krishna orange, introduced Adam Spry, an English Ph.D. student on the Native American Council. Spry announced the council’s contribution of traditional Native American foods to the feast: green beans with roasted peanuts, wild rice-stuffed acorn squash, and homemade salsa. Clearly, the upcoming meal would be eclectic, to say the least.
Surprisingly, Indian (from India) and Indian (from America) foods fit together rather well. Both relied on rice bases, the Indian sweet and light, the Native American dark, heavy, and savory. The curried vegetables served by the Bhakti Club were matched by the Native American salsa in their heavy use of fresh cilantro, though the vegetables themselves differed. Despite the difference in vegetables, both cuisines were in fact similarly spiced, though the Indian curries more complexly so. A major point of praise for both Bhakti’s and NAC’s cooking: neither babied down their offerings. Many Indian restaurants in America default to relatively mild curries, worried, no doubt, about their clientele’s sensitivity. Not so at Columbia. Both groups brought strongly peppered dishes and expected those attending to handle it, to taste food as it was meant to taste.
The friendship was not reserved for the cuisine alone, though. There was a general air of friendship and peace in Broadway. As Spry finished, everyone present formed a surprisingly orderly line, Tupperware in hand. Clearly, Bhakti’s weekly meetings are no mere free food events. Friends come in groups and stay to eat; very few attendees simply hit and run. Dave greets everyone with a smile and wishes them well. Haley Hair, CC ’13 and treasurer of the NAC, was excited to promote Native American Heritage Month and underline her group’s relationship with Bhakti. “We been doing this for years,” she said. “We love working with other student groups.” This inter-club relationship does certainly seem a success. Relaxed and well-fed, everyone present looked delighted at this meeting of Indians and Indians.
A No Bull Take on Dos Toros
Californians rejoice, the burrito savior hath come… Or hath it?
The highly publicized opening of Los Dos Toros taqueria in Union Square gave hope to the hundreds of California transplants disillusioned with the Mexican food scene. Modeled after the famous Gordo’s, Los Dos Toros aims to imitate every detail of a classic West Coast taqueria, from the Mexican benches to the background music. There’s something a little strange about estranged West Coast burrito fiends attempting to recreate the taquerias they ate at so fervently on the other side of the country. (more…)
Superfoods: Smashing Pumpkins
Following the uncontrolled gluttony of Halloween, the most urgent issue for many trick-or-treaters is not a swelling waistline; rather, the inevitable surplus of pumpkin leaves single parents, students, and professional partiers all at a loss. What to do with the rapidly rotting orange globes scattered across Broadway the morning after? Jack-o-lanterns should end their brief lives in the trash, not the oven. But think twice about discarding perfectly palatable, uncarved, and unsmashed pumpkins. (more…)
“Smooth or Chunky?” Peanut Butter & Co.
Remember back when you were ten and all you wanted to eat everyday for breakfast, lunch, and dinner was peanut butter? Well, you can relive your childhood at Peanut Butter & Co, located at 240 Sullivan Street. The menu has Classic Peanut Butter sandwiches like Fluffernutter, Peanut Butter Cup, Cookie Dough Surprise, and even The Elvis. There are also Gourmet Peanut Butter Sandwiches like White Chocolate Wonderful Sandwich, Dark Chocolate Dream Sandwich, and Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Sandwich. Before you start thinking of taking any of these names, Peanut Butter & Co has registered them all, so watch out! (more…)
Halloween Dinner Is Horrifying
With a veil of fog obscuring the entrance to John Jay Dining Hall and pre-recorded screams emanating from a boombox, the lack of emergency personnel at the Halloween Theme Dinner seems astonishing. Unfortunately, not even Columbia’s finest student EMTs could successfully resuscitate this meal from a much-deserved demise. (more…)