An interview with Geno Corradetti, assistant director of Pollock Dining Commons

Can you briefly introduce yourself?

My name is Geno Corradetti. I'm the assistant director here at Pollock Dining Commons.

What is the role of an assistant director?

Basically, I am in charge of this entire building for food services. The buffet, the food outlets downstairs, the convenience store, the market, pollock kitchen, and even the coffee shop downstairs as well. I work with a great team of system managers and managing chefs. We also have about 61 full-time technical service staff and 150 student employees which is a big workforce. With such staffing, we have chances to do fun stuff as we did in catering, special events, pop-ups, and things like that. Everyone works really hard, and I oversee all of them as well as food safety.

Can you give us an example of different events you have helped plan?

Whenever people are in need of food, we try to help organize things with them. We have done events last year like casino event; we prepared finger foods and appetizers. We have done other kinds of international events and cuisines too. Once we had an event where we wanted to highlight South African cuisines. Staff and I all worked together to make the event successful.

Can you describe what the preparation for the ethnic dinner was like?

This one went really well; I thought it was very smooth, honestly. We started out with Shelby (event planner of GEC) contacting us. She came over to the dining hall and we discussed where would be the best place for private dining. And then we started asking the question: is there any kind of certain type of cuisine that GEC is focusing on? Indian or Asian? She kind of wanted a mixed bag. Then we talked about the scope of how fancy she wanted it or how it was more of an informal event, so we know the direction. Since we have a couple of sit-down dinners and tablecloths, we did not have a big problem. Whatever the group wants, we'll run through it.

Was the ethnic dinner different from other events?

It was pretty similar but different at the same time, as this one had kind of a mix of things in it. We had the water chicken in there, as well as the egg rolls, vegan stir fry and tiramisu. So, it had all kinds of cuisine which were fun to prepare. Normally when we prepare, we just focused on one certain theme. But not this one. This is the first one we've had with an interesting table with that kind of setup and everything. I think staff did a really, really good job with preparing.

How do you think these kinds of events help globalization on campus?

Food is a common ground for everyone from different backgrounds and places. No matter how different people are, we all need to eat at the end. I think it is what brings people together. The good thing about doing these buffet events is that people get to give things a try. They might not like it, but they can bounce around and give it a shot. I believe food is a huge part of bringing the whole community together.

How do you feel after the ethnic dinner event?

Whether you can tell them or not, I was rather happy with it. I’m glad everyone enjoyed it. This is a part of the fun too; seeing people’s reactions. The atmosphere was great during the event. I also got a couple of emails from students who joined the event saying how much they enjoyed it, so I posted them for the staff to see and feel good. So, I am thankful for the opportunity to do it.