Quarantine Cooking: Community Table

By: Anna Kim, Andrea Nystedt, Ellie Ana Sperantsas

During the pandemic, Exonians took to the kitchen and gathered virtually at Community Table, a pilot-program created by Health Instructor Brandon Thomas. Community Table focuses on cultural cuisine, cooking and food justice, and the club meets at 6pm on Sundays.

“With more time on my hands, I was able to try out recipes that take longer time or are more experimental,” senior Emily Kang said. 

Prep Luke Davis has also cooked in his spare time. “Pouring time into a task which results in a physical product, especially one that I’m proud of and can share with other people, makes me happy and is a good way to keep myself busy,” Davis said.

Upper Riley Valashinas agreed. “[It’s] an unexpected bonus to staying home all the time.”

Certain students have used Community Table as a form of reconnecting. For example, senior Erin McCann has practiced her Korean cuisine, and prep Sofia Novosad has cooked bun chay.

Additionally, some meetings have been set up in a “cooking show” fashion. Most recently, Emily Kang took to the virtual stage. Erin McCann compared the experience to “watching a professional cooking show for free.”

Club members fondly recall an in-person meeting in October when the club met for a socially distanced cookout under the tent behind the Goel Center. “The entire meal was farm to table and some of the dishes produced were restaurant quality,” Thomas said.

  “My favorite part about Community Table is being surrounded by people who love food as much as I do,” Kang said. “I love eating, but I also enjoy learning about food justice, cooking meals together, and sharing information about our cultures through food.”

Prep Sarah Sargent agreed and was grateful for connecting with “people [she] didn't before.”

Thomas spoke on the power of shared meals. “Food is such a unifier and I thought that enjoying food together while exposing others to aspects of culture that they weren’t as familiar with was a step into knowing each other better,” Thomas said.

“After everything that happened during the summer of 2020, [Community Table] was largely my nuanced response,” Thomas said. “Distance breeds fear and proximity breeds understanding.”