Cooking, chatting and sampling new recipes took place as students turned an ordinary Monday afternoon into a shared experience at Cook and Connect, a campus workshop combining healthy eating with community connection.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hosted by the Associated Students Food Pantry in partnership with TitanWELL\u2019s Cooking Healthy & Optimal Movement program, Cook and Connect aims to help students build confidence in the kitchen while promoting wellness and community. These workshops teach simple, affordable recipes and offer a space for students to learn healthy habits together.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe realized that although we are providing food items to students, some of them may not have the skills to really prepare meals for themselves,\u201d said Aly Koba, coordinator of the ASI Food Pantry. \u201cWe really try to incorporate or create an opportunity for people to learn as well as connect with each other so they can really build those skills as well as create a sense of community with each other.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cristina Truong, associate director of Titan Student Union Programs and ASI Food Pantry, helped launch Cook and Connect alongside TitanHealth to strengthen collaboration between the two departments. She said the program allows students to gain more than just cooking experience and introduces them to essential campus resources that can support their health and well-being.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cEven if students didn\u2019t know about the food pantry when they come, they just want to learn to cook \u2014 they also get information about the food pantry,\u201d Truong said.<\/p>\n
Students gathered outside of The Pantry under a canopy tent, organized with ingredients and cooking supplies to prepare vegan chili and chicken salad. The \u201cBatch & Chill Meal Prep\u201d session guided participants through portioning, seasoning and storage tips, while demonstrating how to create affordable and nutritious meals.\u00a0<\/p>\n
TitanWELL health educator Jennifer Langenwalter encourages students to taste as they cook, experiment with spices and learn how to improvise when certain ingredients or tools are unavailable. The workshop emphasized building confidence in the kitchen and making cooking feel more approachable.<\/p>\n
\u201cI try to just keep it not stressful and casual,\u201d Langenwalter said. \u201cWe always have a recipe as a guide, but really, especially when I call it camping cooking, which I feel like we\u2019re doing no matter where I take my program, you just have to improvise.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
As students chopped vegetables, mixed ingredients and stirred simmering pots, the tent filled with focused energy and conversation. Participants worked side by side to prepare the meals, coordinating each step as ingredients came together. Some students took the lead on cooking and turned the workshop into a genuine team effort.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Teamwork was at the center of the experience, with students supporting one another and sharing small victories throughout the cooking process.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we were cutting the jalape\u00f1os, one of them was struggling to cut the jalape\u00f1os,\u201d said Emily Andrade, a second-year psychology major. \u201cI felt really happy when I saw him really excited that he was able to do it correctly. I was like, \u2018Oh, I\u2019m impacting somebody in a positive way.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
For others, the workshop was a way to overcome nerves that come with learning how to cook and build habits that make healthy eating feel more achievable.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn general, it just helps people eat more healthy,\u201d said Brandon Tran, a third-year mechanical engineering major. \u201cInstead of always eating McDonald\u2019s or whatnot, they can learn how to cook for themselves, save time and money.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Cook and Connect series will continue throughout the semester, with the next session, \u201cRise and Shine Remix: Breakfast 3 Ways,\u201d scheduled for Nov. 17. Each workshop highlights a new theme and recipe, giving students another chance to build their cooking skills and connect with others in a supportive environment.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cooking, chatting and sampling new recipes took place as students turned an ordinary Monday afternoon into a shared…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36384,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,23306,413,25544,25545],"class_list":["post-36383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-cooking","tag-food","tag-healthy","tag-wellness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36383\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}