By Dom LoVallo
Managing Editor
St. Bonaventure University has scheduled a series of cooking classes for the community, opening the campus to more than just the students.
Last January, Bonaventure held its first cooking classes, and they were a success according to Jennifer Pulver, the event sales and marketing manager.
“All of them were very well attended,” said Pulver. “We were pleased with the results, so we decided to repeat this series with a couple of different segments.”
Four classes have been planned, and suggestions from former classes played into what is being taught.
“We had, from the groups that came to [prior sessions], suggestions of ‘doing something with parents and kids,’ or ‘So many people are gluten free, can you do something along those lines?’” said Pulver. “So, that’s where we picked some of our classes.”
“Explorations in Gluten Free Cooking” will be held on October 15 from 2 to 4 p.m. The registration deadline is Oct. 10. The class for kids and parenting will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. on Nov. 19. The registration deadline is Nov. 14. The final class scheduled so far is a holiday hors d’oeuvres class being held on Dec. 10 from 2 to 4 p.m. The registration deadline is Dec. 5. All of the classes will be held in St. Bonaventure University’s St. Francis Dining Hall.
She said each class costs $50 to attend, and that is why Bonaventure has made this event a way to reach out to the community.
“It is [expensive] in the sense that they are actually physically making this food,” said Pulver, “So there is a grocery bill involved with it. You have a chef that we’re using, our sous chef (Justin Maxon), there’s some management things and obviously then there is marketing to advertise this.”
Pulver has started to think about a less expensive alternative so more students could afford a class.
“Although, yes, it seems like it is expensive… one of the things I have thought about is can we do something less expensive that is only marketed on campus,” said Pulver. “It would be far less expensive to reach to students because we have those communication channels already in place to reach you through.”
St. Bonaventure wants the community around campus to feel like a part of the university, not only through supporting athletics, but through feeling at home while walking through campus.
“One of the initiatives that St. Bonaventure has through our strategic plan is to involve the community more often with things here on campus,” said Pulver. “We want the community to be as comfortable on campus as our students are. We want it to be a welcoming atmosphere.”
Pulver believes turnout will be good for each class. According to her, the gluten-free class and the parents-with-kids class already have spots filling up.
People who signed up for the school’s mailing list were emailed a “save $10 when registering to…” coupon that can be used when registering for a class.
The chef teaching the classes, Maxon, is a graduate from the culinary school of the Art Institute of Pittsburgh.
“In order to do these classes well, you not only need to have the culinary skills, but you need to have the people skills and [Maxon] does a wonderful job with it,” said Pulver. “He’s fabulous with teaching these classes. He just has the right personality and he has fun showing people how to do what he knows how to do.”
The pasta-making class being held on Oct. 1 is already past its registration day, but the other three announced classes still have available spots.
lovalldv15@bonaventure.edu
