UI chefs cook up traditional Thanksgiving meal in Biloxi
By Sharita Forrest, Assistant Editor 217-244-1072; slforres@illinois.edu Four UI chefs spent Thanksgiving break cooking for Mississippians and volunteers from around the country who are assisting in relief efforts in Biloxi, one of the Gulf Coast cities struggling to rebuild in the aftermath of 2005’s Hurricane Katrina. Don Block, director of dining services; Marcus Terhune, executive chef; Chris Henning, food service administrator; and Eric Larson, pastry chef in the Housing Division, were among 20 volunteers who volunteered the week of Thanksgiving at Camp Biloxi, a semi-permanent camp that houses and feeds volunteers working in the area. The group was part of a service effort organized by the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Champaign. Block chairs the church’s service committee and was part of a group that volunteered at Camp Biloxi in June. After hearing Block talk about his experience and the ongoing need for workers, Terhune, Henning and Larson volunteered to go if the church sent another group. The four chefs relieved the camp’s two regular cooks so they could spend the holidays with their families. The chefs provided three meals for about 150 volunteers daily and for about 400 people on Thanksgiving Day, including local residents and the homeless. The camp’s kitchen and many of the sleeping accommodations for volunteers as well as the toilets and showers are in 8-foot-wide shipping containers/trailers without wheels. The kitchen has two small commercial ovens and the UI volunteers took along additional equipment – including a 20-quart mixer, carving lamps and chafing dishes – for the holiday meal preparations. Block, who developed the menu in coordination with the camp’s regular cooks, wanted to serve a made-from-scratch holiday dinner, despite the limited kitchen facilities. The chefs prepared the holiday desserts – which included about 60 pumpkin, pecan and apple pies – and the breads and rolls the day before Thanksgiving. On Thanksgiving Day, they used outdoor roasters to cook 33 turkeys – a new experience for all the chefs – and used turkey fryers to prepare the mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes and green beans. “We did a lot of the cooking and prep work outside because there weren’t any bugs this time of year, and it was cooler,” Block said. “We tried to get as much done on Wednesday as we could, so we wouldn’t have to fight the oven space (shortage) on Thursday.” “We worked side by side, hand in hand, and were pretty much reading each other’s minds,” Larson said. “It went a lot better than I thought. When I walked in the door, I thought, ‘What did I get myself into?’ My eyes were wide, and the first day I was counting the moments until I could leave. But after the initial shock, and the first couple of days, it went like a breeze.” The chefs’ work days often ran from 4 a.m. to 7 or 8 p.m., but might have been much shorter if they hadn’t been cooking as many dishes from scratch. “We were trying to make it as nice as possible,” Larson said. “For some volunteers, it was their fourth or fifth trip (to Camp Biloxi), and they said (we made) some of the best meals they’d had.” The trip had an ominous beginning when the truck towing the trailer containing the equipment broke down about two hours south of Champaign. A Ford dealership in Salem lent the group a vehicle for the week while the truck was being repaired. Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29, 2005, destroying or leading to the destruction of nearly a quarter of Biloxi’s 25,575 homes and businesses. The Lutheran Disaster Response, which runs Camp Biloxi, estimates that its aid will be needed in the region for up to eight years. Larson said he was stunned by the number of displaced people he saw pushing grocery carts piled with their belongings and the number of empty foundations where buildings once had stood. “I think it’s important for people to see that type of thing and realize it could be any of us, that we should always be thankful for what we have, and we should also be out there helping people,” Larson said. Block commended Terhune, Henning and Larson for giving up their holiday break to work at the camp. “To put on a really nice, full-blown meal in my mind truly is the spirit of thanksgiving, and they were willing to do that. The people are so thankful for any help you provide. In the restaurants we stopped at on the way down, people would come up and say, ‘Thank you for doing this.’ ”
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