By Igor Colonno
Sustain U hosted the first edition of Pass the Plate on Sept. 28 as a part of Latinx Heritage Month at the Beach Kitchen. Pass the Plate is an on-campus class held to celebrate recipes of different cultures that students can enjoy.
The first recipe of the semester was red bell peppers and Brazilian lemonade. Students that participated were divided into stations to craft each recipe together as a team.
Jeremy Ramos, a 23-year-old liberal studies major, said that he loves Brazilian culture but doesn’t know how to cook much, which made Pass the Plate a great opportunity to learn more about Brazilian food.
“If there are students who don’t know how to cook, this is a great opportunity, since they’ll give you resources,” Ramos said. “Any student is welcome to join any workshop.”
09/28/2023 - Long Beach Calif: Jeremy Ramos puts the cut limes into a blender to make the Brazilian lemonade. Ramos said that he's not skilled at cooking and claimed that this was a great space for him to learn. Photo credit: Igor Colonno
At each station, students performed designated tasks like dicing onions, cutting peppers and opening cans of beans. At the same time, other students cut limes and opened cans of condensed milk that were used to create the Brazilian lemonade.
Although 23-year-old Tanya Sanchez-Ramirez did not enjoy the Brazilian lemonade, she recommended that everyone try out new recipes from various cultures.
“You can’t stay in your own bubble all the time and eat like beans and rice all the time,” Sanchez-Ramirez said. “You can eat beans and rice, but you can make them differently. You can spice it up and you can make it better.”
Sanchez-Ramirez also shared that these workshops are a great learning tool to make a recipe that you are craving, buy the correct ingredients and avoid making the recipe incorrectly.
Carol Gudumotu, a 23-year-old computer science international graduate student, and 26–year-old Yanjun Liu, a piano performance graduate student, attended the workshop to relax after classes.
Gudumotu said that, as an international student from India, she has not had the chance to try food from other cultures, so this workshop was the perfect opportunity for her.
09/28/2023 - Long Beach, calif: lead assistant Elena Gant (right) instructs Carol Gudumotu (left) on how to properly cut the red bell pepper. Gudumotu said that she thinks knife skills are life skills. Photo credit: Igor Colonno
She also suggested that an upcoming Pass the Plate class could teach students how to make Indian food.
“I would be excited to know what people think of Indian cuisine, that would be really awesome,” Gudumotu said.
Liu loved the workshop as well and shared that it was an opportunity for her to learn how to cook and properly use a knife without the fear of judgement.
The next edition of Pass the Plate will be on Oct. 19 at the Beach Kitchen, where students will be taught how to make spiced chickpea buddha bowls.
