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Student Wellness Centre

Welcome to Home-cooked at Mac!

The McMaster Student Wellness Centre is extremely excited to be introducing Home-cooked at Mac in the Fall 2022 and Winter 2023 terms this upcoming year. Thank you to the McMaster Okanagan Committee for funding this program, supporting its development, and maintaining their endearing commitment to our community’s health and well-being.  

What is Home-cooked at Mac?  

There are few better ways to learn about one’s culture than through preparing and sharing food. Here’s what you can expect from Home-cooked at Mac this year and how you can participate and most importantly, eat some good food!  

Home-cooked at Mac Structure  

  1. Recipe Instructional Videos 
    • We’ll be releasing 4 videos throughout the year (October, November, January and February) to the SWC YouTube Channel. Subscribing to our channel is a great way to keep up with Home-cooked at Mac and other programs at the SWC!  
    • Each video features a member from our McMaster community highlighting a dish from their culture.  
    • We were fortunate enough to have quite a few McMaster community members be joined by their parents in our instructional videos to learn about even more different stories, perspectives, and cooking tips! All dishes were chosen to be easy to cook, balanced, and quick – perfect for students.  
  1. Meal Kits  
    • We always have those new recipes that we want to try, but it’s a lot of work to go out and buy new ingredients that are often in packages so large that you don’t end up using all of it. We get it! That’s why accompanying the release of each recipe instructional video in Home-cooked at Mac, we will be having meal kits for pick-up that include the ingredients you’ll need to try the recipe from that video.  
    • Sign-ups for these meal kits will be released approximately a week before each video so keep an eye out on the SWC social media for details!  

Even if you don’t pick up a meal kit, we hope that you’ll try to cook along with these new dishes whenever you get the chance. 

Who’s going to be in the videos?  

Chefs: Dr. Adrianne Xavier, Assistant Professor in Anthropology and Indigenous Studies, and her mother Kitty Lynn 

Dish: Twisted Sisters Soup 

Region: Six Nations of the Grand River 

 

Chefs: Nicholas Chenje, Head Chef at Afrolicious Restaurant, and Morola Fasina, Marketing and Communications Associate at McMaster’s Black Student Success Centre 

Dish: Chakalaka Grilled Cheese 

Region: South Africa  

 

Chefs: Zeinab Khawaja, Health Promoter at the Student Wellness Centre, and her dad, Faizullah Khawaja 

Dish: Chicken Karahi  

Region: Pakistan  

 

Chefs: Parsia Parnian, McMaster student, and his mom, Neda Parnian  

Dish: Tahchin  

Region: Iran  

Why Home-cooked at Mac? 

In the wise words of Ratatouille’s Chef Gusteau: “Anyone can cook!”, and we here at the SWC believe it! 

Connecting with one’s culture through food is an incredibly meaningful and visceral experience. Oftentimes, foodways are passed down through families verbally, and it’s easy to not know where to start in learning your culture’s cuisine if we weren’t afforded these opportunities. Home-cooked at Mac hopes to provide a safe, inclusive environment where anyone can reconnect with their own culture or learn about a new one.  

Learning to cook for yourself is a big step and can often be quite intimidating, especially for busy university students. If you’ve never cooked before or don’t cook often, Home-cooked at Mac is an excellent opportunity to start with clear instructions, simple dishes, and ingredients! Each video for Home-cooked at Mac will cover a variety of basic cooking techniques (knife skills, braising, pan frying, etc.) that will help you in cooking other dishes as well. 

While filming Home-cooked at Mac, it was incredible to hear the stories behind these dishes and what they meant to our chefs. Through the laughter, teasing, teaching, aromas of the food, and sounds of cooking, it felt as though we were transported into the home kitchens of each of our chefs. It was touching to see parents and children learn from each other, and we are so happy to be sharing this with you through this program.  

For those who have never cooked before, savvy home chefs, or those who just don’t want to think about what they’re going to cook for a couple of nights this year, Home-cooked at Mac is for you. Join us in learning from our guests’ rich lived experiences and enjoying some great food.  

See you soon!  

Follow our Instagram, Facebook, and subscribe to our YouTube Channel to keep updated!

Registration will be available through our programs page

 Food & Nutrition