By P.J. Binsfeld ’15
THE ROUNDUP

For most students, their experience with the lunch line is to wait, grab food and go.

There is much more that goes on in that small room adjacent to the Great Hall that most students never see.

“There’s probably a lot of time and effort goes into Michaels but it really probably depends on what day it is and what they’re serving that day,” said Austin Cook ’15.

“I think that a lot of time and effort goes into Michaels, it’s just that it’s the same food every day,” said Cole Becker ’16.

For starters, just off of that room is a kitchen much bigger than ones students will find at home.  There, Chef Kathleen Morten is busy working away.

Waking up at 4 a.m., she heads off to Brophy to start cooking.

At 6 a.m. she has started the grill and is working on breakfast.  As breakfast is served, the food for break and lunch is started and is ready for the onslaught of students coming through.

“We serve approximately 1,000 people a day,” Chef Morten said. “I have three people in the kitchen, including myself, and we also serve the faculty, and their meals are a little more complicated than what we serve the students.”

While the job is tough, she said there are good things she can take out of it.

“My favorite part of the job is interacting with the students and faculty,” Chef Morten said.  “It brings me great joy to see everybody happy and having a great time here at Brophy.  I was very apprehensive when I came here to help the account for M Culinary Concepts, but I think the students are exemplary.  The young men are very kind, very nice and I’ve fallen in love with all of them.”

Not many people know the process of how pizza at lunch arrives in students’ hands.

“The food business is a really neat process,” Chef Morten said.  “Obviously it comes from its origin, it comes in and my crew works really super hard and there’s many moving pieces that need to work together.  We make pretty much everything from scratch.  We come here at 5:30 or 6 in the morning to start cooking to have enough food for you guys at break and lunch.  We have different vendors who supply us with food.  I have a bread vendor, a drink vendor and a regular food vendor.  I have to coordinate those on a daily basis to determine what you guys will have for a special and to have the same core items every time.  We order it in and my team gets behind the line to cook it up for you.”