Future Le Cordon Bleu student and CKBU volunteer Andrew Woolridge is on the left

On the opening day of the Campus Kitchen at Baylor University, Andrew Woolridge was in charge. “That first day,” he said. ”We had no idea what we were going to do.” He didn’t know what the kitchen would be like, what food was available, or that it would all be frozen. He did know that he had 2 hours to cook for about 50 people.

What he got to know was his team of inexperienced but energetic Campus Kitchens volunteers. “People were so much fun,” he said. “Experiencing the start up process together was thrilling.”

CKBU’s kickoff wasn’t the first time Andrew has faced a formidable cooking challenge, nor will it be the last:  He’s recently been accepted at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, a world-renowned culinary arts school.

He’s looking forward to returning to France, where he studied at the University of Caen for six months in 2008. It was there that Andrew began to “see food in a whole new light.” He spent his time “traveling, roving the markets, meeting butchers, bakers, cheesemakers and more.”

The challenge was his kitchen: he had just two burners and a sink in his communal kitchen, plus a pot, a skillet, and a cutting board. Yet he still created ” some phenomenal meals.” He said it’s not just about the superior quality of produce there, or the extra care that is put into production.

Those meals were so memorable because of the difference in food culture between France and the U.S.: “There’s a part of me that felt completely at home there, in a place that orients itself around food and around meals,” he said. ”It’s such a communal and hospitable thing, and that’s part of what attracted me to the Campus Kitchen.”

The thing about food, said Andrew, is that “the joy is lost if there’s not someone to share it with.”

And share he did. He even got the chance to deliver meals from time to time, which made a significant impression on him. “It was such a wonderful experience to see the way peoples eyes lit up,” he said “and to see how excited and how grateful they were,” he said.

Like his food education in France, experiences like delivery shifts also made Andrew look at food in a whole new way, specifically what he calls an “abundance mentality.” He said: “Ironically, there is enough food for everyone if we use it wisely and don’t waste things.”

A passion for using food wisely, carefully, slowly is what Andrew hopes he brought to the Campus Kitchen, but ultimately, what he gained is perhaps more meaningful than what be brought.”The act of preparing a meal for someone is almost sacred in nature,” he said. ”I love being able to feed other people. It feeds my soul.”

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