Faculty, staff, and students of the College of Pharmacy have had the opportunity to learn about and cook meals from various cultures at two social gatherings via Zoom.
The sessions, titled “Exploring Culinary Cultural Differences,” were a collaboration between the college’s Equity, Inclusivity, and Diversity (EID) Advisory Board and the Office of Student Affairs. Student, faculty, and staff volunteers shared dishes from their cultures and hosted virtual cooking classes, where participants could follow along and prepare the dishes themselves.
Kalon Owens-Jones, student affairs coordinator on the Nashville campus, is a member of the EID board who participated in both sessions and shared a dish from his culture.
“The cooking classes were fantastic,” he said. “Food is the backbone of every culture, and sharing my culinary cultural beliefs as well as discussing others’ was a great learning experience. We all have different stories, and cooking is a great way to share our experiences and remind us that we are more connected than we realize.”
Dean Marie Chisholm-Burns attended Owens-Jones’ session.
“Kalon is a master chef and teacher,” she said. “Although my dish did not look as good as his, it tasted heavenly!”
