Bloggers’ Bites: Favorite Penn Food Memory
Bloggers’ Bites is a series of posts chronicling the foodie adventures of Penn Appétit’s blog staff. With Halloween coinciding with Homecoming this past weekend, Penn Appétit bloggers shared their favorite Penn-related food memories.
Grace Jemison: My favorite Penn-related food memory is the “Friendsgiving” my roommates and I hosted last year. We invited a bunch of friends over, had everyone sign up to make a dish to share, and had everyone over to celebrate Thanksgiving together before they did so with their families. It was a wonderful mix of butternut squash soup, fall themed salads, Asian stir fry, and pumpkin-inspired desserts. I forced everyone to go around the table, saying what they were thankful for being we indulged in our potluck feast. It was my favorite type of a great dinner: bringing together people I love of different backgrounds and cultures over delicious food.
Allison Schwartz: My favorite food memory at Penn so far has been seeing a girl in the dining room at Hill take a bowl of granola and pour it straight into her handbag. Not only that, but she went back and got another bowl. If I’m being completely honest, I was a bit jealous. (Ed. note: We do not endorse taking food from the dining hall unless you’re actually doing take-out.)
Connie Xu: Back to Quaker Days last spring, I had an amazing dinner at White Dog Cafe sponsored by the School of Nursing. It was an opportunity for some of the nursing peer advisors to get to know other admits like me. However, it certainly didn’t hurt that the food tasted incredibly delicious! We first started with freshly-baked sourdough rolls that were complemented with honey butter on the side. Then came the entrees. Most of my table had ordered pasta, but I decided to go with the ahi tuna steak and crisped quinoa. I. Was. In. Heaven. The melt-in-your-mouth texture of the tuna paired perfectly with the satisfying crunch of the quinoa, and the tomato relish accompanying the dish was both creamy, sweet, and satisfying all at the same time. The best part of the meal? The waiter served complimentary coffee for dessert! While the food was obviously memorable, this particular White Dog Cafe dinner continues to stand out in my head, because it was my very first exploration of all the awesome restaurants here in Philly. It was also a great way for me to realize Penn as my home for the next four years.
Lisa Shmulyan: It was another typical Saturday night in my freshman hall. Aside from me and a few friends, the majority of my suitemates were out. I had decided to stay in because I was exhausted from the past few days and some of my friends had midterms coming up. Bored and hungry, we decided to order Asian takeout. Although the actual food wasn’t particularly special, it was a much needed break from Hill dining hall food. The vegetable lo mein and slightly greasy dumplings were heavenly. Huddled around our takeout boxes in the abandoned social lounge, we ate and laughed and talked. For good measure, I brought in my computer and streamed Sex and the City episodes from the 90s. I couldn’t describe anything as more stereotypically “college.” And even though we weren’t raging at the frats, we had a pretty damn good time.
Yen-Yen Gao: Being a Penn freshman, my food experiences so far have been limited both by time and my mandatory dining plan. As badly as I want to spend all of my money chasing those delicious smells from the food trucks littered around campus, I have to listen to the angel on my shoulder and use my dining swipes. In an attempt to keep my dining experiences as interesting as possible, I try to make my dining hall food creative and presentable. Food is also always better with good company. My favorite Penn-related food memory so far is when I belatedly celebrated a friend’s birthday with brunch in Hill. I wanted to make something special for her, so I made a waffle, decorated it with berries, peanut butter, syrup, and added granola for texture. The end product would have been worthy of a Stephen Starr establishment, taste-wise and presentation-wise.
Chase Matecun: Few food experiences on campus can match up to the memory of my first chicken taco from Honest Tom’s. Their sweet potato tacos are a close second, but the perfect balance of fiery chicken, creamy guacamole, and bright pico de gallo in their chicken tacos just can’t be beat. After drizzling the taco with a squeeze of the smoky, house-made hot sauce, hefting up the earthy corn tortilla in one hand, and taking that glorious first bite, I knew I had found a new campus staple.
Nicole Woon: I’ve been privy to amazing food-related opportunities thanks to Penn Appétit, but you can check many of those out in our archives! Outside of my experiences with the publication, one of my favorite memories was making dumplings from scratch with a friend for Chinese New Year. Her family was visiting for the holiday weekend and graciously invited me to join them for a home-cooked dinner. We used our fingers to delicately coat the edges of dumpling wrappers with water and stuffed them with hefty mounds of filling, the heady aroma of pork and chives perfuming the air. After sealing the dumplings and cooking the plump pockets to perfection, they joined the spread of traditional delicacies–long-braised clay pot fish, tofu and tomato stir fry, and more–at the table. Needless to say, we feasted well into the night. The meal served as a reminder that no matter where I am, I will always have a “family” nearby.
