The initiative, conceived by a small group of students this fall, was approved in December by the Housing Office, the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students, Executive Vice President Mark Burstein and Vice President for Campus Life Janet Dickerson. The Co-op will feature international cuisine prepared by its members.
“We wanted to open up another eating option for upperclassmen,” Anu Pattabiraman ’10 explained. “There was extra demand for a co-op on campus, so [we thought] why not make one? … We thought it was nice to have [not just] American food but … food from all over the world.”
When Mike Wang ’10 expressed interest in the Brown Co-op, he was told that it was “oversubscribed for by about 10 people” and that he could join next year.
“I wasn’t quite satisfied with that answer,” he said. “I started thinking that maybe there was a niche on campus for another co-op.”
Wang, who is also USG vice president, said the USG was not involved in the creation of the new co-op.
The eating clubs and dining halls offer a standard assortment of foods; the Brown Co-op has no particular culinary focus; and 2-D, the vegan and vegetarian co-op, attracts “a specific slice of Princeton,” Wang explained.
“International cuisine ... that’s a niche that no one else has filled,” he added.
Uri Bram ’11, one of the co-op’s coordinators, said that co-ops represent a unique dining and social option on campus. “It’s a low-cost option that’s affordable compared to what’s available at Princeton,” he said.
The students spearheading the initiative have gotten positive responses so far, and they said they hope to recruit students of all kinds of affiliations to join.
“People who are RCAs … may like to have meals with upperclassmen [or] cook sometimes,” Bram said.
The coordinators also said that they do not intend for only international students to eat with the co-op. Of the students coordinating the group, Wang noted, only Bram and James Hodson ’10 are international students. Both hail from England.
The co-op, the coordinators explained, will offer students the opportunity to cook authentic foods from their own backgrounds and dishes that they might not be able to find in the dining halls, eating clubs or other co-ops.
“The dining halls do have international food on occasion,” Pattabiraman said. “[But] … some people who are from those cultures might not find them to be quite sufficient … Also, the option of making their own cuisine really appeals to them.”
The students said they hope the co-op will be centrally located on campus. Wang said that the Department of Facilities has been conducting surveys of different kitchens the group could use in Little, Dod and 1903 halls.
Whichever kitchen the co-op is assigned will require renovations. “Vice President Dickerson and Vice President Burstein have agreed to help fund us,” Wang said, though they have not yet determined how much funding will be granted. Dickerson and Burstein could not be reached for comment.
Wang added that Undergraduate Housing Manager Angela Hodgeman told him the housing office “will be responsible for overseeing the renovations over the summer.”
For additional funding, Wang said, the co-op will apply to the High Meadows Fund, an organization that supports environmental initiatives. Wang explained that the group is pursuing ways to make the co-op organic and sustainable.
“What would make me really happy is if I come back for Reunions 30 years from now, and I eat a meal at the international food co-op. That would be amazing,” Wang said.
“I want to create something that’s here, that’s part of the fabric of Princeton social life for years to come,” he added.
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