Boston College dining exploring global menus with new program

Tara Fitzpatrick

Boston College’s (BC) latest foray into tasting the world began with Corcoran Commons GM Derrick Cripps encouraging his own kids to help plan some fun family dinners.

“The program started with my kids at home,” Cripps says. “I challenged them to be more creative and explore cuisines and culture from around the world when helping at home with dinner ideas.”

That father-and-kids activity led to the first Cripps family international dinner. “My oldest had picked Peru because it ‘sounded interesting,’” he says. The meal included tacu tacu, a rice and bean dish, lomo saltado, a steak and fries dish.

1. Haitian poulet Creole; 2. Filipino yellow turkey adobo; 3. A steak and fries dish from Peru.

Through that experience, BC’s #global eats program was born, a weekly detour on Thursdays into unexplored culinary corners of the globe. Cripps introduced his idea to the BC dining team last summer with a “seed meal to start the creative ideas flowing for this fall,” he says. “I gave [the staff] a list a dishes from around the world. The team prepared them and we all sat down together to talk about different flavor profiles and how much variety of flavors and styles there are around the world.”

One of the first #global eats items this fall was Haitian poulet Creole, a stewed chicken and rice dish with the bold, bright flavor of Scotch bonnet chilies. Other dishes featured in the #global eats series include Filipino yellow turkey adobo and Armenian lahmajun, a thin piece of dough with minced meat, veggies and herbs on top.

Cripps and crew are just getting started with #global eats, encouraging each other to push the boundaries even further in terms of inspiration.

“The kitchen really embraced this,” he says, adding that he’s also continuing the global menu exploration at home as well.