What Lies Beyond The Plate?

What+Lies+Beyond+The+Plate%3F

Article by Olivia Saroukos, Writer

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Beyond the Plate, or BTP for short, is ASIJ’s first gastronomic science club, which explores the science behind various foods. Beyond the Plate is a great club for students to express their creativity and passions for nutrition, food, and the science behind it all. Members are encouraged to further their interest in the culinary arts and sciences by planting fruit, vegetables, and herbs, and by experimenting with their self-harvested foodstuff. Members also have the option to cook foods with ingredients they grew with their own hands. 

Beyond the Plate encourages its members to cook various ethnic foods, in order to encourage diversity and represent the cultural richness that ASIJ students bring to the school community. In this manner, Beyond the Plate provides students with a fun yet valuable way in which to share their cultures and expand their knowledge and experiences. The scientific aspect of this club comes into play in the cooking, when science is used to try and improve the quality of the dish. For example, senior Seeun Kwon, one of the leaders alongside senior Sprihaa Singh, explained how they used science to improve the taste of brownies. Rather than using oil (a conventional ingredient) they experimented with using chia pudding. Although this may seem like a peculiar choice at first, in fact, they ended up with a delicious brownie.

Beyond the Plate club is a perfect fit for foodies or people that love to cook, but it is also a great club for students who love to go out and enjoy nature: Students get their hands and knees dirty while planting fresh produce, located on a school rooftop. Since Seeun and Sprihaa will graduate shortly, they are excited to pass down to the underclassmen what they have learned about the commitment and creativity that entails being a leader of the club.

This year’s additions to the Beyond the Plate leadership team are freshman Kai Ishii, and sophomores William Michels and myself. We are excited to share with the rest of the school community new ideas and further improvements to our club. Some potential ideas we have so far are hosting bake sales, creating more content on our YouTube channel and Instagram account, sharing cooking vlogs and recipes, organizing cooking contests, and possibly even creating a cookbook of the most innovative and delicious recipes that Beyond the Plate has developed as a club. Beyond the Plate is excited to share their ambitions about food science with the community.