#CaltechTogether: Rob Bagley

“We've been working really hard on developing and testing our recipes during the last few months, since we’ve had this time to focus on it. Our revamped menu has much more of a global, regional approach based on the demographics of the community that are here on campus now. We've been focusing on American regional—smoking and barbecuing brisket and pulled pork with different charcoal and woods—Italian regional, Russian food, Korean food, European fare, of course. A lot of the people on the housing crew are Mexican/Latino, so we have a lot of offerings for them. We've added chorizo to the grill and Taco Tuesdays with tortillas made from scratch. Very delicious. We're fortunate enough to have wonderful culinarians working here from different regions of Mexico. And Mexico has a very broad array of cuisines and flavor profiles, from Oaxacan to Zacatecan to Caribbean Latino. I met a few Nigerian students on campus, so we've added Nigerian offerings, and we also have Persian and Mayan dishes. With all the things going on right now, I think what has saved a lot of us is that appreciation for food and culture. We’ve been visiting the dorms, too, where graduate students arriving on flights are quarantining. We're actually dropping food off ourselves in full PPE. Sometimes they'll stick a head out and say, ‘Oh my gosh! Everything's so delicious. Thank you so much!’ Everyone's so isolated, and food is one of our only connections. It's definitely a positive thing and a nurturing thing, and it's something that all of us need.”

Rob Bagley (pictured in his home garden) is Caltech’s chef de cuisine, responsible for overseeing culinary offerings on campus. During the pandemic, Chandler Café and the Red Door Marketplace have stayed open, with limited hours and other adjustments, to cater to essential workers as well as the graduate students, faculty, and staff who are on campus, including those students who have to quarantine after arriving from out of state in one of the two open residences on campus.

#CaltechTogether is a special series of #SoCaltech spotlighting the many ways members of our community are joining together to support one another and to take responsibility for our collective health and well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic.