Summer 2015 NACUFS Internship!: Michigan State Week 4

This week was spent working mostly in the largest dining facility on campus, Brody Square. This same facility is also the largest non-military, self-operation dining facility in the country. Monday morning Jens, a student supervisor, gave me a very intensive walk through of the massive dining facility as well as an overview of his position. The dining facility is separated in to what are called platforms. Each platform offers different kinds of dishes and are similar to multiple restaurants in one place. After the walk through I attended an allergen certification class. Gina, culinary services dietitian, taught the course about allergens and how to better your facility's practices to be more accommodating and conscientious of allergens. After the class I worked in the Pangea platform in Brody Square. This platform serves stir-fry dishes where the meals are prepared right in front of the customers in woks. I was able to try my hand at cooking in a wok and it was a great first experience. It was very hot!

Tuesday I worked in the back of the house. This is where foods are prepped to go out to the platforms to be cooked. I first worked on prepping vegetables for a roasted vegetable soup. I sliced and diced about 15 sheet trays of chicken breasts. I also prepped breadsticks for the pasta platform, Boiling Point. The highlight of this day was being able to take part in an ice cream tasting. Hudsonville, who provides the dining facility's ice cream, created new flavors and I was able to test them with a group of various other employees at MSU to decide if the new flavors should be incorporated in to the dining facilities around campus. After the testing I breaded pork chops. I skewed the rotisserie chickens and made the brine for the chickens.

Wednesday was spent shadowing and speaking with Brody Square dining managers as well as the HR Coordinator. Karen discussed her front of the house manager responsibilities. Anise discussed her ordering responsibilities. Andy discussed his scheduling/pay responsibilities. John discussed his responsibility for making sure that when the private dining rooms are booked everything is set-up for those. Jennifer is the HR Coordinator that gave an overview of her tasks and role within Brody Square. The best part about this day was being able to see the Bailey Hoop House. This is a student run gardening operation on campus that supplies some of what is harvested to Brody Square dining.

Thursday morning was spent working in the MSU Bakery. Baking is something I enjoy when I have the time so this was right up my alley. I was even able to assist with decorating cakes and cupcakes which I loved! I made three dozen of MSU's famous game day cookies. They are just sugar cookies that are frosted and a sticker goes on top with either the Spartan "S" or Spartan helmet. Three dozen is nothing compared to the full swing production that occurs during the sports' seasons. The afternoon was spent prepping chili and various other kitchen tasks in the test kitchen.