Eagle Nutrition Services at EMU are offering free Home Cooked Cooking Classes throughout the winter semester beginning Thursday, Feb. 3.
The cooking classes are scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 3, Feb. 23, March 24, and April 13. The classes will be held in the demo kitchen in Room 105 of the Rackham Hall. Registration is required for each class.
Darlene Bellers, the head of the Eagle Nutrition Services, has been working as the director for the past four years. ENS has had cooking classes going on for several years now and wanted to bring them back in-person this semester.
“Pre-covid they were always in-person, but when COVID[-19] hit last year we did virtual cook alongs because we wanted to keep the classes going,” Bellers said. “This year it’s back in person so we’re excited to have people around.”
Registration is required to allow ENS to create a safe cooking environment following COVID-19 protocols. Students will be able to cook along with the instructors, learning tips and tricks on how to create student friendly healthy meals.
Bellers, a registered dietician, said the cooking class was to help students that want to learn how to create healthy meals for themselves.
“Students want to eat healthy and want to eat right, but they have some limitations, and some of it is grocery shopping and some of it is just putting meals together or always being on the go,” Bellers said. “A big part of that is cooking, they’d eat healthier meals if they knew how to prepare them, but they’re intimidated, they don’t want to spend money on groceries, burn a meal, and then not have the food and the money wasted.”
The main idea of the classes was to teach recipes that students may be familiar with so that it was a better learning environment. They also have alternative food options for everyone that caters to people's different diets.
“We do vegetarian options as well as meat based options to cater to the whole crowd, and some plant based meals to encourage the healthy factor,” Bellers said.
Registration is available at http://eaglenutritionservies.as.me/cookingclasses. If you have any dietary or nutrition questions or concerns, contact ENS by phone at 734-487-6572 or email at chhs_nutrition@emich.edu.
