Imagining a professor’s life outside of the classroom is something many students may not think about often, or perhaps even at all.
But beyond the textbooks and midterms, professors have hobbies that students may never get to know if they never asked.
Dr. Nick Miller, who is now the chair of the English Department and who has been teaching at Loyola for years, has a rich history with food and cooking.
Miller’s father was a China Scholar, which led Miller’s family to Taiwan. Miller spoke Mandarin as a child and grew up around many skilled chefs.
Miller’s formative years were filled with vivid memories of food. He recalled cooking with some of his father’s students and the night markets where he was exposed to the range of food’s color and vibrancy.
“I have vivid memories of food there… there was a night market that would go all night until four in the morning… It was wall to wall people… hot flames… and an open air market.” He said.
It wasn’t until Miller’s college years that he began to cook more for himself, and it gave him a newfound independence. But it wasn’t until Miller met his now wife that he began to cook for a more special reason.
“We started this long distance romance. So when she would visit, I would cook. And I had to impress her, so I would choose really elaborate recipes… I still have the first cast iron pan that I bought.”
He expressed that over the years, experimenting and challenging himself in the kitchen led to so many skills and experiences. He now cooks meals that range from pasta Aglio e Olio to mastering his own sourdough starter to conquering the believed to be complex risotto.
His cooking journey did not stop into adulthood. Miller still challenges himself in the kitchen. Miller’s love of cooking has impacted those in his own household. And over the years, his sons have arrived at cooking in theirown special ways. Each has their own different styles as well.
Miller’s oldest cooks Indian cuisine, his middle son experiments on his own with fermented foods, and his youngest throws special dinner parties. These dinner parties consist of strangers, where each are invited on the basis of being interesting, and then are introduced to one another. His son cooks for everyone there, in hopes to connect strangers through food.
Miller also spoke to another special event that blends his love of cooking with film and literature. Each year, Loyola’s honors English seminar puts together the Feast. This Feast draws inspiration from whatever the class focus was for that semester. There have been medieval feasts, feasts with the Beatles, and this year’s will center around metamorphosis and change.
Cooking plays a key role in these literary feasts.Students gather together and cook foods based on the books they read the semester prior. Miller has contributed for years, helping the students make themed foods.
Miller recalled, “One year I was on French onion soup, and a student of mine and I cut onions all afternoon with swimming goggles on so we wouldn’t cry. One year we made hundreds of mini quiches… and again, it’s the conviviality of it, cooking together.”
Miller’s history with food speaks to the uniqueness of food’s range. It can be a language for love, a way to relieve stress, a communal experience, and a form of expression. It is more than just one thing, and impacts people in a multitude of ways.
Miller’s journey through food is only one of many, but he encourages others to get in the kitchen so that their story may begin too.
Miller’s homemade sourdough (Photo via Dr.
Miller)
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