EDMOND—Junior and senior women at Herbert W. Armstrong College hosted a dinner on December 10 in Edmond and December 1 in Edstone, as part of their coursework for Basic Foods Study. Seven students at the Edmond campus and six at the Edstone campus hosted end-of-semester dinners for each other and for about 25 guests at each location.

Given the practical nature of the class, the students host a dinner rather than writing a term paper as is the case with other classes. Instructor Deborah Leap said, “The idea of a Foods Class formal dinner at the end of the semester originated from wanting the class to work together on a project where they could use some of the skills and information that they had learned that semester. The girls get a grade which is the equivalent of a term paper for their participation in this dinner.”

The Basic Foods Study class covers the art of cooking and provides hands on application of the lessons for practice. “Actually applying what we learn about helps me to remember it better,” senior Arianne Olsen said.

This year, the Edmond class chose a French theme for its cuisine and decorations. “My favorite part about the dinner was making the French bread. It was an all-day process, so to finally cut the bread, arrange it on the tables, and watch people eat it was so fulfilling,” junior Brianna Weeks said.

Edstone students gave the dinner an Italian theme. “I really enjoyed making pasta with Rachael [Grellet] the day before the dinner. When making a couple batches of pasta it’s easy to run out of space for the pasta to hang and dry overnight. Rachael and I got creative and used a clothes-drying rack instead; it looked a little funny, but it worked,” senior Calela Brooks said.

“The Foods dinner was actually one of my favorite events we’ve done here at Edstone. We got to use the new dining room table that Edstone got right before the feast, so that made the whole night really elegant. It was really fun too because there were courses, so it felt like a royal dinner, also because we got to have the Flurry’s and Macdonald’s attend. Mr. Flurry asked us several questions about Foods, like what we’ve learned so far, if we’ve had any prior experience in the kitchen, and if we’ve had any major mishaps in the kitchen during Foods class—it made the night special since we were able to actually discuss Foods class during Foods dinner,” junior Kassie Verbout said.

Next semester, the class shifts gears from Basic Food Study to Meal Management.