In an effort to implement “labor education”, and foster students’ living skills, the labor course— “Food and Life” was officially set up in the staff cafeteria of Eastern Campus, University of Science and Technology of China(USTC) on March 5th.

As an experimental course, it was welcomed by the students from the School of the Gifted Young last semester, thus is expending to all USTC students, or USTCers, in this new semester. The course adopts a small class teaching pattern so as to ensure the teaching outcomes, in which teachers demonstrate on the spot first while students observe, then students are offered the chance to operate by themselves. The teaching group is composed of professional cooking teachers and staff form campus canteen, and all of them have learned to deliver a cooking class. After meticulous preparation work, the Food Service Group finally decided on 20 characteristic dishes involving Chinese hot dishes, Chinese pastry and Western-style snacks.

USTCers are enthusiastic about this course—all of the spots were immediately occupied right after the reservation began. A total of 510 students from 22 classes in 10 different Schools ordered to enroll in this course this semester .

The first course was presented by Mr. ZHENG Guochen, a senior Chinese chef of China Hospitality Association. He taught how to cook the famous Sichuan dish “poached spicy slices of pork”. Mr. ZHENG firstly introduced the origin of the dish, then he explained and showed the cookery of it, including cutting, pounding and marinating the meat, following tips on how to keep meat firm and tender. The students were amazed by his exquisite knife work.

After the lecture, students worked in groups of three to five to conduct cutting, boil the oil to produce this cuisine orderly. Emitting the odor of sesame seeds and cilantro, a spicy and delicious “poached spicy slices of pork” was completed. One of the students, MIAO Fengyuan from the School of Information Technology said, “This course is so popular and I feel lucky to get the chance. There are a lot of skills to learn about cooking. I want to cook for my parents when I get home.”

USTCers preparing the dishes and boiling the oil in a pot

After the course, students provided valuable suggestions to the course team through online questionnaires and on-site communication. The “Food and Life” labor course teaches USTCers to cherish the fruits of labor and appreciate the true meaning of labor, facilitating the development of well-rounded socialist builders and successors in all aspects.

(Written by DUAN Qingrong, edited by LIU Zige, USTC News Center)