At the University of Northern Colorado, chefs and alumni Darci Hata ‘10 and Ian Mickells ‘09 prepare and plan food and work to make dining halls safe while on-campus; off-campus, they’re continuing to teach their classes and preparing food for their families.

“This is the time to get more comfortable in the kitchen,” Hata says. “Weekends are for self-care, and the kitchen is my sanctuary. I’ve been using this time to test recipes I find online and adding my own twist to them.” Not only do we all need to feed ourselves, but learning to be flexible with a limited ingredient list is a good life skill to have in general, and especially now.

Top image: Hata and Mickells' daughter helping to make a pizza from scratch.

Above: Chefs Darci Hata and Ian Mickells teach the Food Preparation and Preservations class (ENST 178) at UNC.

Hata points out that sometimes, looking through the stores you already have can yield opportunities you didn’t think about. “Last week, I found a frozen bag of Poi (a Hawaiian staple, made from mashed taro) in our freezer, that I forgot about,” Hata said. “I turned three and a half pounds of Poi into four different baked items.” Perhaps Poi isn’t in your freezer, but there may be a staple or ingredient you’ve overlooked hidden away in your freezer or cupboards.

Darci’s class, Food Preparation and Preservation has helped some of her students be prepared for this kind of crisis. “I took the ENST 178 course during my very first semester at UNC in the fall of 2017, and I feel strongly that the course prepared for a pandemic and gave me a skill I’ll use for the rest of my life,” UNC student Josh Hollin said. “Honestly, everyone benefits from being able to cook healthy food for themselves and too few students arrive on campus with that knowledge.”

Hata and Mickells’s class projects have been translated to the virtual space for the time being. Each week still has a specific food requirement, where the students make their meals with their own materials, rather than the school’s. “We discussed making a sourdough starter for those that don’t have access to yeast. We did our mother sauce class early in the semester,” Hata says. “Once you’re able to make the mother sauces, you can get as creative as you want. Turn a bechamel into the best cheese sauce for mac and cheese. Making a hollandaise sauce at home is a great way to make it fancy.”