Potluck on 114th St.
Columbia's special interest house offers an alternative to Frat Row
For fun potluck recipes, scroll to the bottom of the article!
Lively discussion and healthy food help the atmosphere of 604 W. 114th every Friday evening when a unique group of motivated students come together for a potluck dinner.
The Symposium House hosts this widely attended dinner for Columbia’s artsy types: resident and Spectator staff writer Mark Holden, CC ’09, guarantees that while the weather is still freezing, the Potluck House—as it is affectionately called—is the “warmest place on campus.”
Founding member Hannah Temple, CC ’07, adds that Columbia can often feel like “a cold, detached place,” with any social activity centering around getting intoxicated. “Other students find it so strange that people would want to just come together [without the extensive influence of alcohol].”
Not everyone thinks the group is inclusive, however. Unable to reconcile the convivial potluck dinners with the festivity norms put forth by frat parties situated on the same street, students have accused Potluckers of being “vegans, hippies, and lesbians,” says resident Rachel Waldholz, BC ’08.
And there may be a grain of truth in this stereotype. The food, first and foremost, is consistently healthy. During Friday dinners, conversations flow about a myriad of topics, from local activism and problems with the city’s education system to slam poetry and new, independent films.
Patrick Faurot-Pigeon, CC ’07, likens the Potluck House to political writer Hakim Bey’s idea of a “temporary autonomous zone” to which artists almost subconsciously gravitate—a place outside authoritarian boundaries, invisible on maps, “always hidden, always shifting.” A while back, Faurot-Pigeon felt “bankrupt in the experience of community,” and that was when he first decided to create Symposium House.
The community started informally two years ago when six friends started hosting weekly dinners in a suite in East Campus. As the idea grew, the group sought to expand its reach and applied to be a Special Interest Community through Columbia Housing. Last semester, the house—under its formal name—debuted in its brownstone on 114th Street.
Upon acquiring special interest housing status and moving to its current 114th Street brownstone, the Potluck House began to experience a few setbacks. Despite being frequent visitors to the house, Barnard students are officially excluded from living there. The two residents who slipped through the cracks have to pay more than their Columbia housemates.
Compared to the Potluckers’ proclivity for mattress sliding, sleeping on the roof, and lights-out dance parties, other campus parties may seem, well, conventional.
The interests of community members extend beyond the brownstone, too. Kate Hibbard, BC ’07, spends each summer with the politically charged performance group Circus Amok, which addresses issues like gentrification, rent control, immigration, and standardized testing. Other Potluckers enjoy stilt-walking, putting out zines, or even staging Mortal Kombat-esque fistfights in the basement.
And it is precisely this variety of interests that makes the house so unique. As members explain it, the weekly dinners are an allegory for the House—there is no potluck unless everyone comes together, bringing along his or her very own dish and passion.
The Potluckers’ personal involvement forges deep connections with their neighbors. They share their basement with their neighbors at the Inquiry House, another Special Interest Community, who actively participate in the weekly dinners and sometimes even help in hosting them.
“Potluck is not just a dorm, or a frat, or a house. It is home,” Holden said.
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Pumpkin ‘Cheesecake’
12 oz. firm silken tofu, puréed
8 oz. nondairy cream cheese (try Tofutti)
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup granulated sugar
3 Tbsp. flour
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 prepared graham cracker crust*
• Preheat the oven to 350°F.
• Purée all the ingredients except the pie crust in a food processor
and pour into the graham cracker crust. Bake at 350°F for 50
minutes.
• Allow to cool for 30 minutes, cover with plastic wrap or the top
of the pie container, and refrigerate for 6 hours or overnight
before serving.
For the Crust*
11 graham crackers, ground into fine crumbs (about 1 1/4 cups)
3 Tbsp. granulated cane juice
5 Tbsp. margarine
• For the crust, preheat the oven to 325°F.
• Mix the graham cracker crumbs and granulated cane juice in a
medium bowl. Add a dollop of margarine to the mixture and stir with
a fork until well blended.
• Transfer to a 9-inch pie pan and make the crust by evenly pressing
the crumb mixture across the surface of the pan.
• Bake until lightly browned and firm, about 15 to 20 minutes.
• Let the crust cool completely before adding the filling.
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Sesame-Apricot Cookies
1 cup vegan margarine
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. almond extract
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
7 Tbsp. sesame seeds
3 Tbsp. apricot jam
• Preheat the oven to 400°F. Lightly grease a cookie sheet.
• In a medium bowl, mix the vegan margarine, sugar, and extracts
together.
• In a separate bowl, combine the flour and salt. Add to the
margarine mixture.
• Roll into 1-inch balls and roll in the sesame seeds.
• Place onto the prepared cookie sheet. Using your pinky finger,
make an indentation in the top of each ball and fill with about a
1/2 tsp. of the apricot jam.
• Bake for 12 minutes or until slightly browned. Cool before
serving.
-Recipes submitted by Diana Wong, CC ‘10
Vegetarian sushi
Rice
Water to steam - one inch above rice level
Vinegar for ten cups of rice: one cup vinegar
4 tablespoons of sugar
1 tablespoon salt
Some sheets of seaweed (lettuce or spinach leaves make good
alternates)
Wasabi
Cucumber
Celery
Takuan (Japanese pickles)
Soy sauce
Steam rice. Add vinegar, sugar and salt in the steamed rice. Cut
vegetables into strips. Tear seaweed into four squares. Spread
rice on seaweed or lettuce leaves. Put Wasabi on as desired and add
vegetables. Roll them up and put soy sauce on top
-Recipe from Melinda Beretta CC’10