Have trouble boiling or frying an egg? Looking for gluten-free cooking alternatives? Cal Poly Campus Dining is now offering cooking classes.
Cal Poly Campus Dining and University Housing are teaming up with cooking classes at Canyon Cafe. Classes are for all students, faculty and staff and take place every Tuesday from 5-6 p.m. and Thursday from noon to 1 p.m., for the remainder of Fall quarter.
The classes are led by Campus Dining Executive Chef Michael Albright, who teaches participants how to make a variety of foods, from probiotic overnight oats to the perfect turkey.
Classes are free – students, faculty and staff can reserve a spot by visiting the Cal Poly Dining website and filling out the form at the bottom of the page. There are only 14 spots per class.
Canyon Cafe is only open on the weekends and Campus Dining wanted to find a way to use the space during the week, so they created the cooking class program.
“We wanted to find a different way to use the space, and since students in Poly Canyon have kitchens and can make these recipes, we thought that it might be useful for them,” Cal Poly Registered Dietitian Kaitlin Gibbons said.
According to Gibbons, they have seen an increase in class enrollment – student participation, however, is still low. Many of the people who attend classes are Cal Poly staff.
“It’s the first quarter for this program so it is essentially a trail and we are learning where we need to make changes,” Gibbons said.
One of the changes that has come from this trial is the change in days and times it is offered. During Winter quarter the class will only be on Tuesdays, with a time alternation between 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. and 12 p.m. to 1 p.m.
Gibbons and her staff noticed the students were most likely to to attend the night sessions, while staff members were more likely to attend the day class.