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International students are given comfort by rice cookers

Scott Gil-Jacobson a graduate student from Ohio University found himself missing the comforts of home when he was studying abroad in Madrid,Spain.

Now the residential director for Scott Quad. Gill-Jacobson, when he was dying for a cheese burger and he was 1,000 miles away from home and needs something that can remind him of it.

An East Green residence hall that primarily houses international students, is the Scott Quad and because of Gill-Jacobson’s experience they give a new meaning to the term “comfort food” because the students in Scott Quad. are allowed to have electric rice cookers in their rooms.

Chenglan Jiang an O.U. freshman studying finance and is living in Scott Quad said that, when he gets hungry he wants to cook rice not bread and everything like that because in China we usually eat rice and not hamburgers.

She did not like the rice that is being served in the O.U. dining hall, Jiang purchased from Walmart a rice cooker for her room.

Judy Piercy the associate director for Residential Education said last first quarter of winter that the Scott Quadd Hall’s council expressed similar views in proposal to the Residential Housing Office.

Piercy also stated that Residential Housing decided to try to allow rice cookers inside Scott Quad’s rooms After discussing the proposal with the O.U’s Environmental Health and Safety Department, as a pilot plan for this first quarter of fall.

The primary concern is the cleaning up but the staff has taken it upon themselves to educate the students and owners on that, Piercy added bout the rice cooker that it has an automatic shut-off, a concern from a safety standpoint.

Gwyn Scott the Executive Director of Culinary and Dining Operations said that brown rice is served at every dining hall and among other options is the sushi rice and the basmati rice at multiple locations. As for the dining halls, the rice served in the campus dining halls tends to be more “Americanized.”

It is an effort to repesent as many types of rice as there are international students here on campus that is why the dining halls try to have different things available but the rice types are depending on the culture and there are many of them.

Scott said that the notion bout the international students dislike to the rice served has not been brought up on the student focus group that the dining services utilized. So that the students will know what day a certain international rices will be served at the dining hall, her office is developing a rotating rice cycle for West 82 Food Court.

About 50 percent international students have food steamers in Scott Quad that is experiencing a small step toward a comfort of a home for those who live there.

Gill-Jacobson said that It will help with the programming and community building and it gives them a sense of home.