Students gathered at Frederiksen Court Community Center on Sunday to learn some new ways to spice up their Super Bowl parties.

A cooking class, offered by ISU Dining, took one of the program’s chefs and allowed 14 students to learn some new recipes. This was the second class offered this school year, but Nick DeGroote, chair of the cooking class, said they will be holding more classes on a monthly basis.

“Every semester the council meets to think of events for the semester, and someone said why not a cooking class,” said DeGroote, junior in biology and pre-medicine. “We contacted [ISU] Dining and they said they love doing it, so it was pretty easy on our part.”

The class featured many recipes, including main dishes, sides and appetizers. 

“They came up with the concept for it,” said Jeremy Bowker, ISU Dining chef who taught the cooking class. “They looked for a Super Bowl theme, so I formulated the menu based on what I like to eat.”

As the instructor of the course, Bowker cooked and prepared the food and shared his knowledge with the participants.

“The more we do for them, the more students will get involved,” Bowker said. “Anything we can do as a food service to help students better, we do what we can.”

The event turned out pretty well for Bowker, and he has no problem returning.

“I would absolutely do it again, it’s something I love to do and it’s exciting to give experience to the students,” Bowker said. 

DeGroote was satisfied with Bowker’s demonstration, and he also learned something new.

“Jeremy did a good job on showing us step by step,” DeGroote said. “He showed us how to cut an onion in a way none of us knew. [The items] were all easy to make.”

A student participant, Jessica Tekippe, senior in elementary education really enjoyed herself and thought the food was delicious.

“My favorite meal on the menu was the honey/orange and chipotle pepper-marinaded pork tenderloin tacos,” she said.”These may sound odd, but when it was combined with the queso fresco cheese and cilantro/lime onions, it was delicious.”

In between experiencing new recipes that were brought out, Tekippe thought the experience was well worth it.

“I felt that the chef was rather helpful because he told us different techniques that we could use,” Tekippe said.”He was also funny and tried to keep the mood light and conversational.

“I thought that the overall experience was very fun,” Tekippe said. “It was similar to what I could have anticipated, however the recipes were different than what I would have expected, with the theme being Super Bowl Appetizers,it was neat to be able to see different things that you could make that tasted delicious.”

For more information on the next cooking class, speak with the Frederiksen Court Council.