By Elliott Nace | Staff Writer
Penland Dining Hall held its annual Lunar New Year celebration on Tuesday, one day ahead of the holiday. Students were given the opportunity to have a traditional red envelope embroidered by local artist, Jamie Wong Baesa, watch dance performances from the Baylor Lion Dance Team and Indonesian Culture Center, and try some of Food Network celebrity Chef Jet Tila’s cooking.
The dining hall was decorated for the occasion, with several tables throughout featuring cultural information and interactive elements.
Following a demonstration of how to make spicy tuna on crispy rice, Chef Tila’s recipes were served at the BBQ Pit station, and he began to interact with attendees. Tila then went on to explain how he is familiar with the dining hall setting, especially at Baylor.
“I think, of all the Food Network chefs, I’m the only one with a college and university food service background,” he said. “Before I was on television, I worked for Compass Group in the 90s and 2000s, so I actually opened college and university dining halls. Chartwells is now the food service provider here at Baylor, and I used to work with Chartwells.”
Tila said he believes that student bodies are especially receptive to cultural events in his field of work.
“The audience is basically open minds — higher thinkers — and there’s no better place and time to be able to share culture through food than your college and university experience,” he said.
Tila, who has been featured on various Food Network shows including “Cutthroat Kitchen” and “Chopped,” said that his public platform informs many people of traditions they would otherwise not engage with.
“There’s an exciting connective tissue that occurs when you see someone on television at your dining hall, because it’s the last thing you would expect, right?” Tila said. “I come from [the culinary] world, and I think it’s important to give back to this world.”
Tila said that working with food, coupled with his outreach through television, has brought him personal satisfaction and success in sharing Asian culture.
“I’m the culinary ambassador to Thailand. I’ve written three cookbooks, and so that’s connectivity, where I have millions of fans,” he said. “I think it’s nice to be able to travel regionally through America, and people have the chance to say hello and meet me, and I can cook for them.”
Orlando, Fla., sophomore Alek Eggleton, who was coming out of a class to eat, said that the event was a pleasant surprise and one-of-a-kind.
“I’d say the food was great,” Eggleton said. “So it was definitely a nice switch-up from what I normally have. It’s pretty cool that on a random Tuesday, I can walk in and have this experience.”
With respect to hosting future cultural events while in college, Tila said that traveling with friends helps students pick up on a wide variety of global traditions.
“There’s no better time than when you’re a student to travel,” he said. “Travel sparks curiosity. It fills your life with experiences, and you bring those experiences to these kinds of events […] We take [friends] to Thailand, and we share a very non-political opportunity to talk about Lunar New Year.”
