Sam Rosen and Raina Morris help prepare a pot of Indian pudding during Tuesday’s meeting of Bainbridge High’s Culinary Club.

The club meets every week after school under the guidance of teacher Ryenn Mattaparthy, and the students usually pick a dish with international flair, said club president Thor Oden.

“I try my best to plan ahead,” Thor said. “We have done vegetarian egg rolls, schnitzel. We tried to do potato pancakes. Those turned into hash browns.”

There’s been a few noodles in the mix, as well.

“Pho” was another recipe this year, Thor added, after recalling the club’s efforts to make Vietnamese soup.

Recipes and ideas come from a number of places; online, family members. (The schnitzel recipe was from memory, Thor said.)

There’s also a suggestion box, which was made from an old cardboard box that once held facial tissues.

“That’s our Beta suggestion box,” he joked.

Thor’s food fandom stretches beyond the club. He has a part-time job at the Italian restaurant Sogno Di Vino in Poulsbo, where’s he worked his way up from the dish pit in the back to pizzas, then prep, then salads, to finally the line, where he prepares pasta dishes.

Five members of the club gathered this week to make Indian pudding, with sophomores Emma Morris and Clayton Gurowitz also stepping to the stove at times to check on the boiling rice, help measure ingredients or just hover. For the BHS Culinary Club, there’s no such thing as too many cooks in the kitchen.

Sam, a senior, said the appeal of the club was simple: “Cooking stuff.”

But there’s a lot to be said about breaking bread with your fellow Spartans.

“It’s also to socialize, have fun. It’s a different way of bonding,” Raina said.

How do the students decide if what they’ve cooked is a success?

“If it tastes good and doesn’t look bad,” Sam said.

Students said that eating during the club meetings doesn’t usually hurt their appetite for dinner once they get home.

“We’re teenagers,” Thor said with a laugh.

(Brian Kelly | Bainbridge Island Review)