Stefanie Doucette
Staff Writer

Mindy Zhang, a junior at Westford Academy, is cooking up fun with the brand new Cooking Club. Every Wednesdays after school, Zhang, president of the club, and 26 other aspiring chefs meet to dabble in the art of the stove.

Zhang, who is an avid “Iron Chef” fan, was inspired with the idea to start the club by watching the cooking channel.

“I just knew I wanted to start a club. Any club,” She said, “And then one day I was watching the cooking channel and thought ‘I could do this!’”

That’s when Zhang found her recipe for success. After recruiting Mrs. Brown, the adviser, and procuring the old cooking classroom for use, the club fired into action. The old classroom has been empty due to cooking class being cut this year, so it was easy for cooking club to move right on in.

As rumors started brewing, 26 other new students signed up to join cooking club, too.

“The amount of girls vs. guys isn’t too large, either. About 25-75, which is really great,” says Zhang. She also says that the level of skill is pretty even.

“ I’m better than most, but I’m not the best. There really isn’t anyone who stands out as being really good,” said Zhang.

This level-playing field (or cooking field, rather) makes planning meals a group decision. Unanimously, they all decided that their official first dish together would be peanut butter cookies.

“They are just something really simple and good that everyone can do easily,” said Zhang.

In the future, though, she expects the meals to get more complicated.

“I’m a vegetarian myself, so the thought of vegetarian meals excites me,” Zhang says. It is entirely possible that Cooking Club might go the way of 2009, with an organic, natural, and healthy basis of cooking.

Zhang expects cooking club to grow even more in the next few years. As far as her own future, Zhang hopes to be involved with food or cooking of some sort.

“I don’t see myself as a chef…but sometimes I do see myself as being a food critic down the road,” Zhang admits.