New co-op spices up student dining

The co-op is the first to open on campus in 30 years. It specializes in international fare, compared with the Brown Co-op, which is not dedicated to a specific food type, and 2 Dickinson St. (2D), the vegan and vegetarian co-op.

Each dinner at the International Food Co-op is inspired by a different type of international cuisine. Members cook once per week in groups of three, and the chefs choose the theme for their night. All members have one additional responsibility, which may include being a part of the shopping crew or cleaning crew, or even serving as the co-op’s treasurer or historian. Students sign up for the co-op on a first-come, first-served basis, and co-op membership costs $800 per semester.

Though the International Food Co-op’s first official meal was on Friday, the creation of the co-op, the brainchild of Mike Wang ’10 and Anupama Pattabiraman ’10, has been in the works since fall 2008. Wang explained that he and Pattabiraman first got the idea for a new co-op when they went to the Brown co-op for a meal “one fateful October afternoon” last year.

When Wang and Pattabiraman learned that the demand for Brown exceeded capacity despite the co-op’s lack of advertising, Wang said they realized that if there were an additional co-op on campus, students would join.

Though the co-op's members hail from a variety of backgrounds, many of them cited the low cost and food as reasons for joining the co-op.

Becky Bae ’11 explained that she enjoyed her time as a sophomore member of Charter Club, but she found the club expensive and too “big and grand.”

Veda Sunassee ’10, the co-op’s treasurer, also said the low cost of joining made the co-op attractive. A plane ticket to his home country, Mauritius, could cost up to $2,000 round trip, he explained, and he could save money for travel by choosing to join the co-op.

Wang and Pattabiraman said they worked primarily with Associate Dean of Undergraduate Students Maria Flores-Mills as they formulated a plan to form the co-op.

Wang noted that Flores-Mills was their “anchor every step of the way.” Flores-Mills said that she worked as a liaison between the students and “all the other important people in the loop.”

Though the idea for a new co-op received a favorable reception at a meeting of the Residence Committee in November 2008, the University was still reviewing the feasibility of the International Food Co-op as of January 2009, according to a letter sent to The Daily Princetonian by Flores-Mills and Assistant Director of Housing Lisa DePaul.

The letter also said that, once the University found a location for the co-op, funding for renovations would have to be secured, and because of “economic uncertainty” it might “present more of a challenge than originally anticipated.”

The proposal to create the International Food Co-op was successful because the Facilities Planning Group, chaired by Provost Christopher Eisgruber ’83, approved the plan for the new co-op in June, Assistant Vice President for Facilities Chad Klaus said. Klaus added that the group decides “whether projects will move forward or not,” and that the group used money from the Capital Plan to fund the project.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

Flores-Mills noted the independent kitchen in Laughlin was chosen as the location for the International Food Co-op because it was the least used out of all of the independent kitchens, and because a new one was built during recent construction at the buildings in Butler College.

Wang explained that once funding for the co-op had been secured and a location had been selected, it was time to “hammer out … the logistics of running a co-op.”

Co-op members bought all of the food and appliances, but the University purchased two refrigerators and a microwave and also donated a surplus refrigerator, Wang explained.

Dana Eitches ’10, who was in 2D last year, explained that she decided to join a co-op again because she believes mass-produced food often is not fresh. And she said she chose to switch to the International Food Co-op because she likes seafood and meat.

All of the members interviewed for this article noted the sense of community that being in a co-op provided.

“I grew up in a home where dinner was a big deal,” Eitches said, “[a] part of the day where everyone came together, and so I missed that when I came to college.”