Food fights

about it.”

The teams of two to five chefs were allotted the complete resources of their respective dining hall to whip something up in 15 minutes, f laherty h all president c eleste h irschi said. c ampus d ining could also accommodate specific requests like ones for eggs, dill or extra knives.

“ o ne of our teams asked to plug in the waffle maker,” h irschi said. “[ c ampus d ining] was like, ‘Yeah, we’ll get on that,’ and they did.” f isher h all’s Josh s equeira, Jack Waddick and g raham r agsdale showed up to s outh d ining h all’s semifinal wearing matching s tarbucks aprons and headbands. m arkovich said the f isher h all team refused to refer to each other by anything other than “chef” throughout the duration of the contest.

“We did [the food fights] last year, and we came in second place behind a guy who went to culinary school, so that showed us that we had what it took to really make it to the big leagues,” Waddick said. “ s o this year, we decided we would round up the troops — the best cooks we know.” f isher h all’s g reeka merican s ouvlaki sandwich — made from a toasted sandwich roll, shredded chicken, lettuce, shaved carrots, homemade tzatziki, feta and f rench fries — won first place in s outh d ining h all’s semifinal, accumulating points for presentation, “balance,” taste and integration of the special ingredient: g reek yogurt. a fter learning of the special ingredient, s tallman said one guy on the f isher h all team went off on some “tzatziki rant” and claimed to have studied abroad in g reece.

Presentation to the judges — experts from c ampus d ining, student body president d aniel Jung in n orth d ining h all and assistant vice president for c ampus m inistry f r. Pete m c c ormick in s outh d ining h all — was a big factor how a team scored, s tallman suspected.

“ i honestly don’t even know if he studied abroad in g reece,” s tallman said. “ h e could have made that up, but it was convincing. i would go out on a limb and say no one in food fights has any cooking experience.” m arkovich, who presided over the semifinals in s outh d ining h all with s tallman, said the event drew so much more recognition than she thought it was going to.

“a ll the teams were so excited and running around,” m arkovich said. “There were people watching the judging. There was this whole little group. s outh definitely exceeded my expectations.” u nlike many dorm events or fundraisers, s tallman said food fights has quite a low overhead cost.

“[ c ampus d ining] donates all the food,” s tallman said. “ s o the event is free. The only money we spent on the event was making the advertising materials. s o other than that, all the money goes to charity.” d onations can be made to b eacon c hildren’s h ospital by clicking the link on f laherty h all’s i nstagram bio until f riday at midnight.

The first-prize winning team from f isher h all will take on o ’ n eill f amily h all, two teams from f laherty h all and two wildcard teams in the finals, which take place at 4:30 p.m. in n orth d ining h all on f riday.

Contact Peter Breen at pbreen2@nd.edu

s outh b end community on m arch 28. d ecked out in purple furniture and serving coffee and baked goods, the cafe offers visitors the chance to mingle with local shelter cats in partnership with the h umane s ociety of s t. Joseph c ounty. e very cat is available for adoption.

While cat cafes gained popularity in Japan a decade ago, s ult got the idea for hers when she visited one in London in 2017.

“ i had not really heard a whole lot about them,” she said. “ b ut i was thinking when i was there, ‘Wow, we really need one of these in the area.’” a longtime resident of m ichiana, it took a few years (and the covid pandemic) for s ult to pull the trigger and bring a cat cafe home.

“When the pandemic came, i was downsized from a nonprofit event job,” she said. “ i came back from London and put it on the vision board and it kind of sat there for a while … n ow things [had] slowed down, i [could] take the time to focus on it.” s ult is no stranger to animal welfare and rescue; she has served on the h umane s ociety’s board of directors since 2009 and has volunteered there for 15 years, forging connections that would become essential in bringing a cat cafe to life. a doption, s ult said, is the “overhead” goal of the partnership.

“[The h umane s ociety] handles the adoption process,” she said. “We’re kind of in the middle, bringing the cats and the people together.” v isitors can register for one-hour time slots on the cafe’s website, during which they can eat, drink and play with a rotating cast of friendly felines. i t all depends on who’s been adopted. i n less than three weeks since its official opening, five cats have already found “furever” homes. s ult said if adoptions continue, there may be a need to partner with other local rescue organizations.

“We get booked quickly,” she added. “The weeks have been busy.” i n particular, s ult welcomes students of the tri-campus community to stop by for a snack or study break. a fter all, the cafe was born, in part, by her enrollment in s aint m ary’s s Par K b usiness a ccelerator, a component of the c ollege’s Women’s e ntrepreneurship i nitiative.

“ i t was an intense, 10week program,” s ult said. “ i t really helped lay the groundwork for this business.” s he especially expressed her gratitude for the other women who developed small businesses alongside her as part of the program.

“ i t was a group of 25 cheerleaders, really,” s ult said, “cheering you on.” c heering on The c at Lady c afe, in turn, are its patrons — including many students. n otre d ame senior d ina Paul said a teaching assistant for professor d ana m oss’ “ h ealth and d isability Justice” class put the cafe on her radar, so she went with her friends on Wednesday afternoon.

“We have something like this at home but as more of a coffee shop, so i really like that it’s totally catoriented,” senior Patrick Gerard said.

“You can tell they care about the animals,” senior o livia b aumberger added.

For her part, s ult says the cafe is designed to benefit the cats beyond just adoptions.

“a lot of people say, ‘ d o they stay here overnight? d o they go in a cage at night?’ i say, ‘ n o, they stay here at night and they are free roaming,’” she said. “They’re interacting with people most of the day, getting their naps in the sunshine when we’ve got sunny weather. i t’s a great environment for the cats.” s ult also hopes it’s a great environment for people, too.

“The comment has all been the same: ‘This is so therapeutic for me,’” she said. “For students during stressful times, or missing their pets at home or just needing a break from everything that’s going on, coming to hang with cats for an hour, people leave a little refreshed.” s till, s ult denies the “crazy cat lady” allegations.

“People will ask me how many cats i have at home. i just have one!” she said. “ b ut they’re easy and they’re fun. c at people, we’re a little quirky, and we own that. We like it. We own that title.”

Contact Aidan O’Malley at aomalle2@nd.edu