For St.FX students still in Antigonish because of COVID-19 a new program is doing its best to bring them a little taste of home.
“When I got the email, I jumped at the chance,” said Happiness John, a student fromTanzania who recently got paired to cook with a member of the university faculty. Together they will be helping one another cook some their favorite dishes. Erika Koch, a professor in the St. FX psychology department, will be following John’s instructions over video call and also sharing a meal of her own.
“You get an onion, tomatoes, some garlic, masala, turmeric, ground cumin, lemon juice and of course french fries. Just mix all the spices and vegetables, bring it to heat and once it becomes sauce pour it over the fries,” said John describing how she makes masala french fries.
“I love spices so it should be good,” said Koch. “And I’m going to send her a recipe for some peanut sauce.”
John and Koch make up one of 12 student/faculty pairs arranged through the Comfort Food FiX initiative started by human nutrition department head, Ann Fox.
During the third week of March, all students who were able to return home were asked to do so. At that time Fox began thinking of what she could do for all the students who couldn't.
“One of the things I’m always saying to my students is that food isn’t just food. It’s about bringing people together. It’s about sharing. This situation presents a unique challenge to demonstrate that, and to find a way to bring people together through food.”
For John, the decision to make masala french fries came easily.
“It reminded me of another time when I was in a new community and surrounded by people who didn’t look like me,” she said of her time studying at a school in Tanzania with a predominantly East Indian student body. “I remember trying it for the first time and saying, ‘wow, I love this’. It opened a channel to help me connect with the community through food.”
For Saba Natarajan, cooking food from his home city of Chennai in India has become a necessity while studying in Antigonish.
“I’m very far away from home, and getting to share a piece of something that brings me comfort means a lot to me.”
- Happiness John
“There’s not a lot of Indian meals in Morrison Hall,” he said of the university’s meal hall. “And I never cooked in my life before coming to Canada so I used to call my mom and ask instructions for what to do. Of course, there’s YouTube, but moms have something different. They have something secret.”
On April 16 Natarajan exchanged one of those recipes, a mushroom biryani, with his faculty pair who, in return, shared one of their own.
“When we were talking with Saba a couple of weeks ago we asked what cuisine he wanted to try and he said French,” said Maureen Moynagh. She and her husband Rod Bantjes are both professors at St. FX who first got to meet Natarajan over the Christmas break.
On Thursday night Natarajan and his friends got together with Moynagh and Bantjes to cook over Zoom.
“We gave them a recipe for tarragon chicken," said Moynagh. “It’s one of our regular go-to dishes, simple and quite tasty. Just braise the chicken in some wine, shallots, fresh tarragon and chicken broth and voila, you have dinner.”
With exams now in full swing, John and Koch are waiting for things to calm down a bit before cooking together. For John, the chance to share a meal with someone new is a source of comfort during uncertain times.
“I’m very far away from home, and getting to share a piece of something that brings me comfort means a lot to me,” said John. “I think this is definitely one of the ways that we can all feel at home.”
