Among the many essential jobs in a co-op is that of the nightly head chefs, who take on the responsibility of planning a menu and leading the cook crew one night each week. These individuals will make or break a co-op, and they can’t possibly be thanked enough for their efforts. Every once in a while, however, a head chef would plan a meal that didn’t hit the mark. If word got out, many of the residents would search urgently for other dining options.
In the 1991-92 school year, I was a kitchen manager at Terra, in charge of keeping the kitchen stocked with food for approximately 100 residents and eating associates and of managing three of the six weekly head chefs. (We respectfully called them “clowns” for some reason lost to history.) It was my responsibility to review the clowns’ menus to ensure that they met certain specifications, such as having a vegetarian option, being enough food to feed everyone, and not breaking the bank.
Once one of my intrepid clowns submitted a menu where the main dish was pickled eggs. Nothing about this entrée—hard-cooked eggs steeped in vinegary beet juice—broke any of the official specifications, but I was pretty sure it would go over like a lead balloon. I warned all the residents I could find.
I checked out the dining room that evening (before heading out for fast food myself) and found a 20-gallon pot half-filled with cold, purple pickled eggs, and a handwritten note on a napkin warning diners to “Please take only one.”
The napkin—with its completely unnecessary limit—was pinned on the dining room wall for years. I only wish I’d taken a picture.
Jason Gische, ’92, is a product manager at Guidewire Software.
