Cheung uses a rice cooker with a steamer basket to prepare rice, vegetables, bean thread noodles and precooked meats. Other residents keep Stouffer's seven kitchens humming from early morning until after midnight, making quesadillas, sausages and peppers, pastas, Chinese dishes, cookies and brownies. Students give various reasons for choosing to cook. Some have class, lab, athletics or job commitments that conflict with cafeteria hours. Another likes to prepare kosher meals for himself and his brother.
Some foreign students pine for familiar foods.
A few said they enjoy cooking for friends. Others, such as Lori Sass of St. Joseph's University, learned to cook at home or during a summer job and continues to experiment. Sass, who has worked for a west Trenton restaurant and a catering firm, can prepare steak strips, baked chicken and pasta dishes with ease. She and three roommates share an on-campus apartment with a kitchen but rarely eat together on weeknights because of divergent schedules. On weekends, Sass treats them to big brunches featuring omelettes and French toast.