Innovation Kitchen partnered with programming organization Late Night Marquette to host a mac ‘n cheese tasting and pizza-making event in the Alumni Memorial Union Nov. 23.
Innovation Kitchen opened in the AMU’s Lunda Room in January 2018. It serves community patrons new meals every day including artisan buffets, specialty desserts and interactive culinary experiences from guest chiefs. Through its events and cooking lessons, it provides a space for students, faculty and staff to learn techniques from professionals in the food industry.
Innovation Kitchen chef supervisor Sara Maveal led the recent event. Since its inception, she said the space has put on about one event per semester with Late Night Marquette. She said the events have a “pretty decent turnout” and that later events tend to be more successful. The Nov. 23 event took place at 9 p.m.
She said the purpose of the event was to “tell everyone about this kitchen and what we do, and then teach them some basic food items.”
The Nov. 23 event invited students to participate, but many events include faculty as well. Maveal said the events benefit Marquette because they teach community members about food and nutrition, which she said is an important part of learning and growth.
Emma McCabe, Mave O’Malley and Justice Gill, all employees at Innovation Kitchen, worked at the event by helping Maveal in the kitchen.
McCabe said everyone seemed to be enjoying the event, asking Maveal questions as she did a demonstration.
“(It was) a really cool way for Chef Sara to teach Marquette students more about cooking and food,” O’Malley said.
O’Malley said the event gave students a chance to “relax before the holidays and before the stress of finals.” Classes were not in session during Thanksgiving Break, Nov. 27-29. Final exam week begins Dec. 9.
Katie Clancy and Emma Roffler, both Marquette sophomores, attended the event.
Clancy said she heard about the event through her sister, a Marquette alumna, and she said she thought it would be fun. She said mac ‘n cheese tasting and making pizza “was a must.”
Roffler said she decided to attend the event because she wanted to try the mac ‘n cheese. Clancy said the event was going really good and it was the best Mac and cheese she had in a while.
The Innovation Kitchen event was a chance for Marquette students to relax and hopefully take some stress off while tasting food made by Maveal and getting the opportunity to share the food with other Marquette students and learn more about food and the nutrition that comes along with food. Students should be on the look out for more Innovation Kitchen events where they can taste food and learn about cooking.
This story was written by Matthew Choate. He can be reached at [email protected].
