Will cook for food: Eating without a club

Nick Lilly '07 walked into the kitchen near his room in Pyne Hall and noticed maggots on the counter. He also observed a raw chicken breast that someone left to fester in a pan of water for five days.

As an independent student, Lilly deals with hazards like maggots and raw chicken every day. Though his experiences may not sum up independent life for all students, they do highlight the challenges that independent students can face.

Lilly chose the life of an independent as a "training course" for living on his own. Others may opt to become independent after not getting into their eating club of choice or for financial reasons.

Regarding housing options, some independents are attracted to the apartment-style setup in Spelman, composed of suites equipped with a kitchen, common room and four singles.

"Spelman is ideal for independent living," Susie Cramer-Greenbaum '07 said. "I like being able to eat what I want when I want and not having to follow a schedule ... I like that flexibility."

Another Spelman resident, Kevin Schaeffer '08, also mentioned flexibility as a large reason why he chose to live in the dorm. He said he appreciates having a single and a common room, luxuries that he didn't have during his first two years in Butler College.

Schaeffer's only complaints about Spelman were the odd geometrical structures and spaces that he said crop up illogically throughout the apartment. Needless to say, he remarked, it's not easy to fit furniture into a triangular cove in the wall.

For a different take on independent life — and for those who don't mind feeding up to 20 mouths a week — the vegetarian coop at 2 Dickinson St. (2D) is a place where independents can live and eat.

Members of the coop each must cook one vegetarian meal a week, drawing from the kitchen's communal stock of organic and vegetarian ingredients, which includes massive quantities of peas, corn, tofu and soy milk.

One resident, Alex Salzman '07, a former member of Quadrangle Club who decided to become both independent and vegetarian last year, described the coop as a group of "different people who you otherwise might not meet on Prospect [Avenue]."

2D's designated bread baker, Liz Jobson '09, said that she has made friends with most of the people at the coop. "I personally don't know much about the eating clubs, but I really enjoy the social experience at the coop," she said. "I feel like it's a really diverse group of people."

"It's a community in the sense that we work together on things," she added.

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Indeed, within the little beige house, graduate and undergraduate students of various backgrounds work together to cook, clean and do the chores needed to keep all the members fed — and salmonella-free.

The coop has a designated "sponge boiler" to maintain a germ-free kitchen, as well as a bread baker, knife sharpener, "bean sprouter," interior decorator and "vehicular shopper," as denoted by a long list on whiteboard in the dining room.

Why bean sprouts? "More vitamins," Jonathan Edge '07 said. He's an exchange student from Oxford who's in charge of cultivating the healthy legumes.

Members are expected to clean up the kitchen after cooking, but the rest of the house, not including the bedrooms, is cleaned by University staff.

In addition to a fully equipped kitchen, the house offers laundry facilities, communal "hangout" areas and fairly spacious rooms, which one resident, Rachel Sealfon '08, described as "gorgeous."

The main benefit for many in 2D is the low cost, a mere $500 per semester — significantly less than the fees at any dining hall or eating club.

Salzman said that there are drawbacks to living in 2D — primarily the chores, which can be time consuming and tedious. Also, the all-organic meals may start to become repetitive.

"There's a lot of curry going on downstairs," he joked.

For those students whose appetites aren't sated by tofu and vegetables, the University also offers a non-vegetarian coop in Brown Hall.

Rachel Schupack '08 joined the Brown coop this semester after finding the independent experience in 1901 Hall to be inconvenient and isolating.

"I guess I was sick of eating by myself," she said.

Her experience in the coop has been positive so far. "It just seemed like I could get the most for my money," she said, "and I got to meet new people."