By Julia Boron
When Joe Zoyhofski, GSB ’21, came to Fordham from Buffalo, he missed the Bills, the chicken wings and, most importantly, home cooking. He came to Fordham not knowing anybody. “It’s an interesting feeling being lonely in the biggest city in the world,” he said while at dinner. After his first week of eating campus food, he craved a home-cooked meal and missed the family aspect of everybody coming together to talk about their day. He wanted to find a way to unite those two things: and so, What’s Cooking was born.
Zoyhofski created a website for What’s Cooking Fordham with the idea that people could come together to share meals and stories. “Even though the food is great, it’s more about coming together and connecting communities,” Zoyhofski said. On the website, you can sign up either to attend or host a dinner. When signing up, you will be able to see what is being cooked for the evening, how much it costs and where you will be going.
The dinner on Feb. 10 was hosted by Reyna Wang, FCRH ’18, in her apartment. She heard about What’s Cooking from a friend and was interested in the idea, so she used a family recipe to make vegetarian dumplings that she grew up eating on special occasions. In celebration of the upcoming Lunar New Year, she wanted to share this meal with the group of students that attended the dinner. She charged $5.50 for her meal, a fair price to be able to eat a home cooked meal and connect with others. This was only the second dinner for What’s Cooking, and so far, both dinners have been sold out at about nine people each.
When I arrived at Reyna’s apartment, guests and I helped her prepare the dinner. As strangers, we stuffed and wrapped the dumplings together. It was definitely one of the highlights of the evening and what I think Zoyhofski had in mind when he started What’s Cooking. We got to do something that most of us had never done before, while also learning about each other. “I think this is how we were meant to eat food,” Zoyhofski said. I had the opportunity to meet people who I had never seen on campus before and learn about their interests and what they aspire to achieve in the future. For example, Zoyhofski dreams of having his own 1001 Arabian nights of meals and stories by going around the world to 1001 different places, staying in a different place and eating a different meal each night. His goal is that these 1001 meals will each tell a different story and be his own version of 1001 Arabian Nights.
Overall, What’s Cooking is a really exciting concept and such a great experience. I loved being able to connect with other students. I would definitely attend another dinner, and I recommend that you sign up with your friends, or even go on your own. Meeting new people and having a family dinner away from home is what What’s Cooking is all about.