Senior Lenny Yuhi fries bacon for a grilled cheese sandwich during culinary club meeting. The club was founded this year and has made a range of foods, from pancakes to french toast. “Cooking has always been one of my favorite things to do and I was excited to join a club that involved cooking,” sophomore Kayla Mitali said. (Courtesy Guillaume Fradet)

People claim to be in their “chef era” the second they boil an egg, but the real chefs at WJ are those in the school’s culinary club. Cooking up a storm bi-weekly in room G02, founders of the club, seniors Guillaume Fradet, Daniel Ansah, Lenny Yuhi and Adya Crispinio, emphasize the importance of collaboration in the club. 

“There are a lot of fun moments when we’re making the food, it’s overall just a fun bonding experience,” Yuhi said.

Starting a club based on cooking can be challenging when in a building made for learning. However, the club gets around this issue by meeting in G02, a room that has ovens and stovetops. Putting together a meeting requires thorough planning and finding the perfect recipe to make that week.

“We have a group chat where we brainstorm ideas,” Fradet said.

The club is relatively new to the school, having only been founded this year. Regardless, there have been about 30 people at each meeting. Thus, to ensure everyone has a chance to participate, the club takes the saying “teamwork makes the dream work” to heart.

“We form different groups, and each of those groups makes the entire recipe…everyone has a chance to participate within a group,” Crispino said.

As the club grows, so do its plans for the future. Thus far, the club has made cookies, crepes and grilled cheese sandwiches, but it most certainly won’t end there.

“We figured it would be a cool idea to let people share traditional dishes, maybe. Or like a cooking competition where you submit your food, and the officers eat it,” Fradet said.

The appeal of the club seems to be the collaborative structure of their activities as well as the benefit of getting to eat with new friends. Culinary club member sophomore Kayla Mitali enjoyed this the most about club meetings. 

“I enjoyed the meeting and activities since I got to meet new people and baked and cooked different things with them,” Mitali said.

Saying “culinary club” has a somewhat prestigious air to it, implying it is an advanced cooking club. However, the club makes relatively manageable recipes and seeing as recipes are completed in groups, members aren’t cooking alone. Either way, it doesn’t matter what you make or with who because, as Auguste Gustaeu said in the 2007 Disney film “Ratatouille,” “Anyone can cook.”