The Center for Health Promotion and Wellness at Kennesaw State University hosted a cooking class for students February 3 teaching them how to make nut-free pesto.
The center organizes these cooking demos to give students easy, healthy meals that can be made in 30 minutes or less. This class in particular gave students three different options to make nut-free pesto with either spinach, kale or mustard greens.
The cooking demos are very hands-on to get students comfortable with the recipe so that they can make it on their own at home. Demos are hosted by current and former dietitians at KSU, like Kelly Schriver. She says she enjoys hosting these events and feels she learns something new every time.
“This would make for a very fancy Super Bowl recipe,” Schriver said in regards to the pesto, encouraging students to try the recipes at home.
Bethany Wheeler is another host of the many cooking demos offered. She is a current dietitian at KSU. She says learning how to eat healthy is a three-step process.
“The first step is setting realistic goals, second is eating without distraction and lastly re-establishing their relationship with food,” Wheeler said.
The many students in attendance expressed excitement at learning the recipes and being able to use the ingredients freely and effectively. The size of the class helps ease the nerves of newcomers as both seasoned professionals and novices cook in the kitchen.
“Culinary, to me, is the ability to choose what I’m putting into my body in order to live out a better tomorrow,” said Alex Gerhardt, a senior studying in the school of culinary sustainability and hospitality.
Gerhardt is the president of a new organization on campus called Social Culinary Society, striving to produce quality foods and quality relationships.
Many students who attended the event said they would encourage friends and classmates to join them.
“I would recommend my peers to come take a cooking demo class,” said Gayle Kruger, a senior studying sociology with a medical concentration. “The class is fun, casual and very educational.”
Sara Millsaps, a freshman biology major, enjoyed the demo and the food they made.
“The spinach pesto was good,” she said. “Spinach is one of my favorite vegetables.”
After making all three pesto options, the students tasted each one and voted on which was their favorite. The spinach pesto won, with the kale pesto finishing in a close second place.
The Center for Health Promotion and Wellness still has several more cooking demos coming up, often hosting two or three per week. For a full list of dates and times, click here. For a full list of dates and times, find their website and click on the events calendar for details.