Cooking With the Zimmers!

Comfort food is having a moment, and science faculty member Heather Zimmer is showing students how to make it at home on a weekly cooking show. It’s part of the new Opt-In Program, in which faculty host casual and fun Zoom sessions such as trivia nights and current events discussions.

The Opt-In Program started last fall after a few faculty members and student head monitors ELIZA DUNN ’21 and GARVIN MCLAUGHLIN ’21 thought about ways to keep the strong sense of community at Milton while in a remote environment.

Zimmer says she and her husband, the head chef at 2nd Street Café in Cambridge, loved cooking with students when they lived in Norris House, and this was a fun way to replicate that experience. In their first episode, they taught students to make mac and cheese from scratch.

“First, we taught everyone to make a comfort-food-style cheddar dish and then helped students customize based on what they wanted to eat that night,” she says. The Zimmers provide the recipe in advance so that people can cook along with them if they wish. In other episodes a group made a “hearty chili as well as Rice Krispies treats with candy to celebrate Halloween.”