Bridging the gap between South Asian culture, sustainable gardening and organic food, the Drew Environmental Action League brought the South Asian Student Association and local nonprofit Grow It Green together to learn about sustainability and good food.
On Nov. 11, the annual Sustainable Food Fest was held in collaboration with many different clubs and organizations to spread awareness of sustainable practices in agriculture and eating, and to share a space to appreciate food from different cultures.
President of DEAL, Katie Germinder (‘27), commented on the collaboration: “It gets good cultural engagement for students and also engagement with community partners like Grow It Green,” expressing her desire to host more events like this in the future.
Having grown and donated the food for the event themselves, the nonprofit attended the event to explain the benefits of organic gardening and providing food for the Morristown community. Grow It Green offered an insightful view of the work that they do across the three farms located in Morristown and at Saint Elizabeth University, and the many benefits of having organic food grown locally available to the public.
Students had the opportunity to learn about the different ingredients brought to the event, like coriander, for example, and the digestive benefits they have. Another point that Grow It Green emphasized was that organic vegetables, and vegetables in general, provide many important health benefits, and that Grow It Green provides them to families who are part of SNAP and similar programs.
SASA representatives, Kiran Balaji (‘29) and Vamsikrishna Vaidyula (‘29), led everyone in attendance in preparing and making samosa chaat, which is a popular north Indian street food combining sweet, spicy and tangy flavors. It is made up of layers of crushed samosas, yogurt, chutney and a variety of toppings to complete the dish.
Attendees participated in washing, peeling and chopping the vegetables, crushing up the samosas and decorating with toppings, all to get the full experience of making the samosa chaat.
“It would be a great opportunity to teach about a niche culture that isn’t emphasized on campus,” said Jordyn Casanova-Ghosh (‘28), President of SASA, when asked about the collaboration. “We are a club that is known for our food; we want to be able to provide the campus with good food.”
SASA is a club that embraces all South Asian cultures; however, since the board consists mostly of students with Indian heritage, it has a focus on Indian culture and events. The club is taking every chance it gets to share the cultures of its members with a campus full of different people.
SASA’s next event will be a Valentine’s Day “Rave of Pyaar,” which will be held next semester. Until then, look out for promotions on its Instagram page @drew_sasa.
Make sure to keep your eye out for the DEAL general elections as well; all positions are open, and the club is looking for some fresh insight. If you are interested, reach out to the members on their Instagram, @drewudeal.
Allison Cannon is a sophomore majoring in psychology and minoring in Spanish and law, justice and society.
