
On a November afternoon, inside the shared kitchen at Columbia’s Teachers College, 25 students gathered around a table, making dough and wrapping dumplings to celebrate that evening’s supper club theme, “Dumplings Around the World.”
“Every dish was memorable, but my favorite was the gyoza done two ways: boiled and pan-fried,” says Rei Iida ’28, who, as the Supper Club Lead, facilitates the committee meetings where the logistics and details are hashed out, from deciding on an evening’s theme and recipes to delegating the grocery list and budget.
The event is one of many produced by Gourmand, the popular culinary club run by Barnard and Columbia students. Whether serving up a citrus-themed feast or organizing a food trek to Brooklyn’s Greenpoint neighborhood, Gourmand brings the undergraduate community together from both sides of Broadway to connect over their mutual love of food — and New York City’s cornucopia of culinary treats.
Barnard at the Helm
Inspired by the Gourmand club at the University of Pennsylvania, Chloe Siao ’23 and Kyle Li ’24CC founded the Columbia chapter in 2022. (Gourmand is a national organization with chapters at over 10 universities.) Since then, Gourmand has grown from a handful of food-curious friends at Columbia and Barnard to a mailing list of 1,400 foodies. And Barnard students have been at the center of it from the beginning.
“It started with us kind of begging people to come and stop by to the food trek outings,” says Abby Bonat ’25, Gourmand’s outgoing president. “Now we have to figure out how we can manage the attendance and make sure that people are getting spots when they want them.”
Today, the club operates with a robust leadership structure: a board of students overseeing three committees — Events, Supper Club, and Digital — with each responsible for monthly programming. Events range from tastings, such as the “Best Chocolate Chip Cookie in New York City” blind taste test (winner: Culture Espresso), to workshops, neighborhood food treks across the boroughs, speaker panels with food-world insiders, and a podcast.
From the very start of Gourmand, Barnard students have been heavily involved and served in leadership roles, including this year’s treasurer, sustainability ambassador, supper club lead, vice president, and president.
Incoming president Melanie Zhao ’26, an economics-statistics major and French minor, joined Gourmand during her sophomore year as a member of the digital committee and, in her junior year, became the club’s vice president.
“I was looking for more opportunities to become involved in the food industry and meet other people with the same interests. I was able to do just that, as well as expand my knowledge,” she says. “For example, I was never really that interested in cooking before Gourmand, but attending supper clubs and speaking with people who are passionate about it has inspired me.”
Zhao’s goals for the year ahead include growing Gourmand’s social media presence, building out the fellowship, and continuing the momentum of events that are, she notes, “free or low-cost” and “connect everyone with the wider New York food community.”
Food Treks, Faculty Collabs, and Pop-Ups
Since it first launched, Gourmand has expanded its programming, including a 12-week fellowship program that provides students with hands-on experience in the culinary and hospitality world.
“The goal of the fellowship is to show the breadth of the food industry,” says Bonat. “So we have positions in food media and business. We’ve had fellows working in food sustainability. We’ve had fellows in front-of-house positions doing more customer service-based roles. We’ve had fellows doing coding and inventory management.”
The fellowship, now in its second year, is designed to be “customizable,” says Bonat. Students apply for spring placements tailored to their interests and work with Gourmand’s partners to shape or fill roles that are needed.
One of Gourmand’s most beloved offerings is the monthly food trek, where members explore the city’s diverse food scene.
“We’ve been to the Upper West Side, East Village, Chinatown, and Harlem. We’ve been to Astoria. We’ve been to Crown Heights, and we’ve done Greenpoint and Williamsburg,” says Bonat. “The fun thing about food treks is we’ve only repeated a neighborhood once so far. But there’s endless possibilities.”
The food trek typically includes stops at restaurants and bakeries for a mix of savory and sweet bites as well as local grocery stores. “We’ll go to a grocery store in the neighborhood that shows the culture of the neighborhood, and then we’ll go shopping for ingredients, and that gives us a little break from eating,” adds Bonat.
Another standout event was the club’s first off-campus supper pop-up this past March in Williamsburg, where students collaborated with a professional chef to design, cook, and serve a ticketed meal.
As the club’s leadership eyes more collaborations with chefs and brands (like a Copenhagen-based coffee company for a tasting), they are also looking to tap Columbia’s own experts. “We’re excited for next year to do some more collaborations with faculty,” says Bonat. “Through Columbia Activities Board, we got in touch with a faculty mentor who is interested in the food industry, and he’s going to help us connect with other faculty who might want to do a workshop or a lecture with something in the food industry.”
A Pathway Into the Food World
Over the years, Barnard has produced its share of alumnae who’ve gone on to pursue distinguished careers as chefs, cookbook writers, and restaurateurs, including Martha Stewart ’63, Melissa Clark ’91, Alex Guarnaschelli ’91, Julia Turshen ’07, Sohui Kim ’94, and Liz Neumark ’77, to name a few. So it comes as no surprise that a new crop of Barnard women have created space on and off campus to merge their academic interests with their passion for food and forge a possible career in hospitality.
Gourmand not only presents members with a chance to network with food industry experts, it also, Bonat says, shows members “different types of paths they can take in food and how they can blend their academic majors with what they’re pursuing in the food industry.” She recalls how one fellow drew a comparison between working as a line cook and his pursuits to become a lawyer, highlighting how various forms of public service are intertwined.
Though the club is still young, several of its former members have gone on to launch pop-ups, work in food media, and land back-of-house restaurant jobs after graduating. But regardless of whether they end up on a professional track in the food industry, Gourmand’s members come away with a sense of community and joy — the very kind that comes from sharing a good meal with others.
Alumnae who would like to get involved in Gourmand can email gourmandcolumbia@gmail.com. Visit Barnard Magazine for more stories on students and alumnae.