Spoon University Comes to Rutgers
The new national e’zine serves up the latest foodie advice to a hungry college crowd
'When you get to Rutgers, food is such a huge part of student life. It’s almost become a cultural phenomenon – Grease Truck fat sandwiches, Stuff Yer Face strombolis. We want to show people where the best places are.'– Mitch Marcus
Breakups are hard. Survival tools include tissues, Netflix and the occasional deep fried tequila shot, writes Rutgers sophomore Danielle Naer in her article, “5 Foods to Eat Your Way Out of a Bad Break Up.”
That piece, along with Naer’s other articles published on Spoon University – the latest student e’zine dedicated to all things food – have made her one of the top contributors on the Spoon network.
“I wasn’t expecting that. I didn’t think I had this in me,” says Naer, an English major and aspiring journalist. “I’d never really been published in this kind of way.”
Spoon University, written for college students by college students, is quickly becoming the go-to culinary guide at universities across the country. The online publication – which serves up student’s personal stories and snarky humor along with local restaurant reviews and recipes – was launched by two students from Northwestern University in spring of 2013.
Then juniors Sarah Adler and Mackenzie Barth were looking to create a publication where college students tired of the usual Easy Mac and Pop-Tart dinners could freely talk about food, seek nutritional advice and gain cooking skills beyond pressing a button on the microwave. They first launched Spoon University as a magazine and a year later bought the concept online.
As the website’s staff at Northwestern grew to nearly 100 students, other schools began contacting Adler and Barth asking for help in bringing something similar to their campuses.
In a little more than two years, Spoon University has grown into a network of more than 3,000 contributors with chapters on 100 college campuses and attracted $2 million worth of investors.
Mitch Marcus, a Rutgers senior who has an interest in food photography, started a chapter of Spoon University at Rutgers this past April. He had heard about the site from a friend at the University of Delaware and knew right away this was something he wanted to bring his school.
“There was no other publication at Rutgers that was talking seriously about food the way Spoon was,” says Marcus. “I wanted to see where this could go.”
The national website serves as a liaison to individual school chapters who assemble their own staff of aspiring journalists, marketers, photographers, videographers, editors and writers. Although the students aren't paid for their work, they gain hands-on experience building a publication. By January of 2015 more than a dozen students had signed on as staff members of the Rutgers’ Spoon University site, which publishes localized content but is also part of the larger Spoon University network.
In the seven months since launching, the Rutgers chapter has received nearly 60,000 combined views on its articles. The Huffington Post also picks up Spoon stories occasionally, including Rutgers junior Megha Patel’s article “This Noodles in a Jar Recipe Will Make You Ditch you Average Ramen.”
“I was so excited,” says Patel, when she received the notification from Spoon University headquarters. “I felt like a real journalist.”
Not only does the publication serve as a resource for students to channel their inner foodie and flex their writing muscles, it also helps showcase the Rutgers food culture.
“When you get to Rutgers, food is such a huge part of student life. It’s almost become a cultural phenomenon – Grease Truck fat sandwiches, Stuff Yer Face strombolis,” Marcus says. “We want to show people where the best places are.”
And the Rutgers Chapter of Spoon has it covered – from where to find the best falafel in New Brunswick to where to get a decent cup of coffee.
“Anyone who interested in going beyond the hamburger and French fry conversation,” Marcus says, “is welcome to join.”
Interested in joining? Contact Spoon University national adviser Mitch Marcus at mcm287@scarletmail.rutgers.edu.