Thursday night the beers were flowing and the food was hot, but it wasn’t at a local bar or house party.
A group of dietetics students threw an “Eat. Drink. & Be Michigan” dinner party in a private dining room at the Kellogg Center for about 50 guests for their capstone project in their Food Service Management Experience class.
“Their big thing is to come up with an event, come up with a menu, come up with a venue, market it and put it on in seven weeks,” said Diane Fischer, who teaches the class.
Each semester, Fischer assigns groups of three to five students to various locations across campus, including residence hall cafeterias, and assigns all groups to learn organizational skills and experience the entire realm of food service.
Dietetics senior Krista King was one of the members of the group assigned to the Kellogg, who helped put on the Michigan-themed event on Thursday. Her group chose to center their event around the theme of fall and local foods, she said.
The State Room sponsored the event, and local businesses and restaurants, including the MSU Dairy Store, donated door prizes.
The room was decked out in pumpkins and fall decor with a jazz band offering musical entertainment.
“To go along with seasonal beer, we chose fall,” King said. “We have food to go along with the event.”
The beers came from breweries across the state, including Short’s Brewing Company, New Holland Brewing Company and Bell’s Brewery, among others.
A huge factor in the group’s event was serving Michigan-grown foods, Fischer said. The menu included pear with bleu cheese, hummus and grilled sandwich appetizers.
“At certain times, there is great bounty in Michigan, so to celebrate certain foods that we have in Michigan … is great,” Fischer said.
King said the recent opening of the State Room’s bar last month influenced their decision on theme as well.
“We knew the new bar was opening, so that’s how we chose to incorporate local beer into the theme,” King said. “They have local beer on draft at the State Room.”
For a $15 ticket, Huntington Woods resident Barbara Willett received all-you-can-eat appetizers, three samples of beer and an entry in a door prize drawing at the event.
She was sitting across from Troy resident Mary Anna Santoro, with whom she had a mutual niece — dietetics senior Kathleen Revard — who helped host the event.
“We were thinking that it’s so nice here, we’re going to have her plan our next event,” Santoro said.
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