The ebbs and flows of the student body’s Saturday activities typically culminate at Peirce Hall from the hours of 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., when those without cars are left to indulge in the wonders of Peirce chicken tenders. For those who wish to escape the fate of Saturday night Peirce dinners, options off campus are limited, especially as they pertain to international cuisine. 

On Sept. 27, the International Society at Kenyon (ISAK) offered a delicious alternative to this routine. That afternoon, ISAK opened the Hoehn-Saric House’s kitchen for a Vietnamese spring roll making class led by ISAK board members and student chefs Dinh Nguyen ’26 and Annie Nguyen ’26. Participants were expected to prepare and wrap their own spring rolls from scratch. The event began at 3 p.m., and the kitchen bustled with activity as students arrived, eager to get to work preparing the dish. Soon, savory aromas and lively conversation filled the air. The Collegian was lucky enough to sit in on the event before interviewing ISAK’s president, Marisa Phoeung ’26, and Dinh Nguyen, who serves as the organization’s event planning and media coordinator, in addition to leading the cooking class. 

“As the name suggests, [ISAK] build[s] a welcoming, warm community for international students as well as students of the diaspora,” Phoeung said. “More than just trying to build community for international students,” Nguyen added, “we also want to invite international students to introduce their culture to students at Kenyon.” The cooking class complements other ISAK events that showcase the cultural and culinary diversity of Kenyon’s international student body, such as Global Glamor (previously known as Multicultural Night) on Nov. 5 and the Cultural Fair during the spring semester. 

“I feel like most international students feel at home when they finally get to eat international food. There’s not a lot of options available in Mount Vernon, and to get to Columbus is also really difficult, so ISAK acts as the middle man, as the gateway almost for international students to get access to those foods at no cost,” Phoeung said. She was inspired to create the class because many of ISAK’s board members, including herself, share a love for cooking and international cuisine. “We want the school to know that we have amazing chefs [at Kenyon]! We don’t have to go out to Columbus,” she told the Collegian. 

“One of the reasons we have created this cooking class is [because] during the Cultural Fair, people were really excited about trying new foods,” Nguyen said. Perhaps the largest difference between the spring roll making class and ISAK’s other events is the involvement required of student participants, who are expected to prepare their own food from scratch. While ISAK offers delicious international food at their campus celebrations, Phoeung noted, “People sometimes take food for granted, especially when we [cater] for international events. People just show up, and they don’t really immerse themselves in the culture, and the culture of the people that are participating.” The purpose of the cooking class, she said, was to teach students how to make food themselves so they develop a more extensive knowledge of food preparation and the culture to which it belongs.

The spring roll making class was the first of a series of cooking classes ISAK hopes to offer this semester. The next one, led by Phoeung, will teach participants how to make kuyteav, a Cambodian noodle soup. Phoeung and Nguyen told the Collegian that the class will enforce a limit on participants. This is an ambitious proposal, as the spring roll making class filled up within a couple of hours and already welcomed more than its original limit of 15 students. Phoeung told the Collegian that the purpose of ISAK is to promote international culture and provide a space for international students at Kenyon. The events aim to unite students across diverse regions by showcasing different cultures on campus. However, ISAK also hopes to forge connections between international and domestic students. “Having them together cooking, there’s always this spark, and this need and this want to connect and to talk. … It’s been heartwarming to see,” she said. “There are stories behind food,” Nguyen said. “Knowing more about stories means knowing more about culture, and more about people.”