Students in Stephen F. Austin State University’s School of Human Sciences participated in the “Dine In” project on Family and Consumer Sciences Day to encourage families to cook and eat together. Students were divided into “families” and created themed meals such as a football theme.
Dr. Mary Olle, SFA assistant professor in the School of Human Sciences, supervised the project. Olle’s Management in Meal Production classes were divided into 12 “families” and assigned to create themes that encourage families to dine in.
The labs in the Human Sciences North Building on the SFA campus were bustling with chefs, as students prepared themed meals, which included “Star Wars” movie night, family heritage, camping, Italian night, football, Christmas movies and more.
Jamason Garcia, SFA hospitality administration major, explained the project was “promoting families having a meal together.”
The “Dine In” project is a nationwide campaign sponsored by the American Association on Family and Consumer Sciences. More than 120,000 people across the nation committed to preparing and eating a healthy meal together on Dec. 3, according to AAFCS.
Lucas Fandry, sophomore hospitality administration major, was a member of a group that created dishes for a football theme. Fandry explained how his group cooked ham and cheese sliders with an onion and poppy seed topping, spicy barbecue wings, cream cheese and bacon-stuffed jalapeño pepper poppers, double daisy cookies, strawberry lemonade punch and buffalo chicken dip.
“We chose our theme because, being college kids and it being football season, we felt it was really something that would be familiar to everybody in the lab,” Fandry said.
Another group prepared meals with a Christmas movie theme, which included Buddy the elf’s faux pasta made from funnel cakes, a salad in the shape of a wreath to represent the wreaths the Grinch steals in the movie, and more.
“This project taught us to work as a team, and it taught us that we can be really creative,” said Adison Dolch, senior hospitality administration major with a culinary emphasis.
SFA students involved in the project also live tweeted during the meal planning and preparation stages.
