New USU club tackles “cooking insecurity”
A new club has come to the Logan campus. The Utah State University Culinary Arts Club was founded and started by Joshua Kuhni on Sept. 3, 2025.
“I feel like food is like a universal love language. Like, everybody loves food, everybody understands it, and it just brings people together,” Kuhni said.
Kuhni feels a calling to assist in what he calls a “cooking insecurity.”
“There’s the SNAC [Student Nutrition Access Center] to help with students who need food and ingredients, but a lot of students don’t actually know how to cook with them,” Kuhni said. “I’ve always been passionate about culinary arts. By making a club where I can help teach other people and get people excited about culinary arts, it could have a positive effect on a lot of students’ lives.”
The club’s staff adviser is Jonathon Walters, the program coordinator for SNAC.
“Jonathon went to culinary arts school, so he has a lot of expertise. He will be helping us with a lot of our upcoming workshop events,” Kuhni said. “He has helped a lot with setting up activities, using the SNAC pantry to support the culinary arts club, and he has connected us with faculty and staff around campus to help us reach our goals.”
Adriel Montejo Camacho joined the club at its beginning. He appreciates the community the club has brought, and he wants to share that with the student body.
“The club has a lot of value to the members because it is a community. We all teach each other and are all at a starting place because none of the members are culinary arts majors,” Montejo Camacho said. “It’s nice seeing people who are also at your level and going through the same struggles as you.”
Kuhni is an engineering technology major, and Montejo Camacho is a dual major in business management and Chinese. The club is open to any student with any degree at any skill level who is interested in learning more about cooking and meeting new people.
According to Kuhni, the club has been created to boost culinary skills, independence and community.
“The mission of the club is to help students learn culinary art skills, get them passionate about cooking and give people more self-sufficiency and independence,” Kuhni said.
According to Kuhni, the club is welcoming and relaxed. Currently, the meetings vary each month. The typical meet-up is either a potluck or a workshop to learn new culinary skills. In the previous semester the club had two potlucks and a hot cocoa hangout.
“A big goal for me is to get a sponsorship for the club so we can fund ingredients to have more frequent activities,” Kuhni said about the future of the club.
Currently, the club meets one or two times a month. Kuhni said he is wanting to become more consistent and frequent. The best way to stay updated is by messaging and following the club’s Instagram account @usuculinaryartsclub.
“I’m really hoping we can get rolling with frequent activities and hoping we can get spaces reserved for workshops and other things we can do this semester. I’m really hoping to make all of it very accessible and just welcoming,” Kuhni said.
The club is within its foundational period which means figuring out the route of expansion and how they want to leave their mark.
“A goal of mine is that we become better known. I am also hoping we are able to make a digital cookbook of our recipes so we can help other students even after we graduate,” Montejo Camacho said.