Nutrition in Action – UCSB Gauchos in the Kitchen!
What Nutrition Can Do For You!
Christina Markos
Gauchos in the Kitchen, a cooking group at University of California, Santa Barbara is a place for students who love to cook, eat healthy on a budget and share their love for food and fun! The students come together as a group once a week and make outstanding recipes and have an amazing time doing it! All of their recipes are for the most part organic and clean-eating friendly. The Adelle Davis Foundation is so pleased to hear that this group is thriving at UCSB, one of the many Universities the Foundation works closely with, awarding scholarships and funding for their health and wellness program. Adelle would be so proud to hear that these students are putting into action what nutrition really can do for overall health and well-being. These students are wonderful examples of eating healthy and sharing recipes on a tight schedule and tight budget. No matter how little time you have or how little your food budget may be, there are ways to cook healthy meals and share them with friends and family In Adelle Davis’ Let’s Stay Healthy, she has a entire chapter dedicated to eating healthy on a budget and gives great dietary plans based on the notion that “Health is related to knowledge, not income,” pick up a pre-order of the newly revised version on Let’s Stay Healthy here! Our guest blogger, Jen Meress is a part of this group and recently did an interview with the Vice President, Kat Mozolyuk. They also have an amazing photographer, Eric Swenson, of the UCSB Daily Nexus who drops in and takes gorgeous photos of fellow students cooking in the kitchen and coming together to enjoy their delicious and nutritious meals! For more information please read the incredible interview below and see their group profile page here.
Interview with Vice President- Kat Mozolyuk
Jenn: How did you start this group? What motivated you to actually start a group at UCSB like this one?
Kat: I have always been really passionate about cooking and wanted to be part of a group like this one. The first 2 years at UCSB I researched and saw that there was no cooking club currently at UCSB. There used to be one a few years ago but not recently. There was a baking and barbeque club but no official cooking club, so I thought it would be fun to start one and that it would attract a lot of people. I started the club with 3 of my good friends and we worked on the vision and purpose.
J: What do we actually do when we get together, do you feel that it is more than just sharing a meal?
K: Meetings are spent cooking together and expanding cooking skills. The meetings definitely feel like more than sharing a meal. Every meeting when we get together and cook feels like a family coming together sharing their days and laughs.
J: What are your overall goals for this group? Where could you see it growing and what is its potential ?
K: The overall goals of this group are to expand cooking skills, create new friendships and be part of UCSB campus in a creative way. There is definitely more potential and I believe that there can be a great amount of growth. My hope for this year is to make all aspects of the club stable so that future presidents can use it as a base and grow it further. We are hoping to soon partner up with a homeless soup kitchen to give back to the community.
J: What is your favorite part about Gauchos in the kitchen?
K: My favorite part about gauchos in the kitchen is that now I have an opportunity to share my passion with others and teach those who don’t cook that the skills can be learned quickly and that it is possible to make creative low cost meals even for college students.
J: Anything else that you would like to add? Should more people join this quarter?
K: It has been an exciting journey starting this club this year and I believe that it has a lot of potential. Right now we are not among one of the biggest clubs on campus, but I believe with strong leaders and passionate cookers the club can eventually grow to its biggest potential.
Check out more info here.
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