What’s for dinner? by Becca H. '12

I no longer have to cook for myself. I haven’t yet decided whether or not I like this new development in my life. I’ve always been a big proponent of the dining system (or lack thereof) at MIT. I’ve eaten in a dining hall three times in the past two years, instead favoring to use the kitchen facilities that were available in New House to come up with my own concoctions every night, usually in less than 45 minutes. The kitchens are where I made some of my best friends, and where I got to use a bit of my own creativity.

I really like cooking. It is kind of fun to look in your pantry/cabinet/shelf (or whatever method of food storage you might use) and concoct a meat with whatever you have there. Not having time to go to the supermarket on a regular basis meant that I had to be creative. My staples generally included chicken, tomatoes, onions, black beans and pasta.

My variety of food was augmented by the addition of the campus produce stand that opened during the spring of my freshman year. Rather than only buying fruits and veggies that could last the two weeks between Haymarket on Saturday mornings), but the convenience factor is a huge plus.

Anyway, back to my point. I no longer have to cook for myself. This semester marks my first semester living in WILG, the Women’s Independent Living Group. Once a month we post a calendar on the wall near our kitchen with the menu (or at least a food item to be used in the dinner), and people sign up to cook. There never seems to be a shortage of people who want to cook, even for the 30 people who live in the house, which means that six days a week we have a homemade meal. Though now of course that I don’t have to cook, the time I used to leave for preparing dinner seems to have been filled by a myriad of other activities–meetings, pset groups or some other must attend event. I like staying busy and being involved in lots of activities, but I do look forward to the day when eventually I can choose to make some crazy meal (and have the time to do it). In the meantime though, I’m going to enjoy MIT (and my dinner).

Our lovely dinner calendar