A mouth full of spicy habanero peppers is the last thing senior graphic design major Max Collins expected after biting into his family’s famous pot roast. Everyone at the dinner table frantically looked around at each other, wondering why their mouths were on fire unlike anytime they’d had the meal before. 

Eventually, Collins’ dad owned up to his error, admitting he hadn’t measured the peppers to a tee and may have let a few too many slip in.

“(My dad) was just trying to make it interesting because whenever he cooks, he eyeballs it, and that's what I do too,” Collins said. “So he kind of eyeballed it and put in too many habanero peppers.”

Collins said many of his favorite memories, including the pepper mishap of 2020, revolve around food — which makes his family's pot roast one of his favorite dishes to have at home and at school. With the holidays just around the corner, Chapman students shared what their favorite food dishes from home are the best to make at school along with the dishes they are most looking forward to gobbling up during Thanksgiving and winter break. 

Omitting the copious amounts of habaneros, Collins loves to try to make his family’s pot roast meal when he’s away at school in order to get that sweet smelling sensation of being home.

“I am actually going to make my mom’s famous pot roast next week,” Collins said. “(Growing up), my mom would take a giant piece of meat and put it in the crock pot, put a bunch of spices in there, some butter, peppers and she'd let it cook for eight hours. When I came back home from school, the house just smelled so good. Usually there'll also be carrots on the side as well as broccoli and mashed potatoes.”

Although untraditional, senior software engineering major Stacy Cappelloni told The Panther that her favorite family food tradition is getting beef raviolis from their favorite Italian restaurant called Bertucelli’s La Villa in San Jose.

“Ever since I was born, basically it's just ravioli for every holiday like Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, etc.,” Cappelloni said. “(I think) part of it was to kind of have an option for people who maybe don't go for the holiday meats like turkey or ham.”

For senior integrated educational studies major Gemma Marshall, food traditions such as making christmas cookies and mince pies have carried on through her family for generations. Although Marshall’s favorite mince pie recipe was originally her grandmother’s, Marshall continues to make it herself even after her grandma’s passing. 

“My grandma was the only one that lived in America with us for a little while,” Marshall said. “She passed away years ago, so that's kind of nice that we still have that in our family tradition. The rest of our family was in England, so that was not my only grandma but the only grandparent that I really felt close with. So it's nice to have (the recipe).”

Marshall, who loves cooking during the holidays with her family, believes food brings people together if they’ve never met before.

“When I'm getting to know someone, we always go get food together or grab coffee,” Marshall said. “That's always a way of doing something but also having the ability to talk and get to know them.”

Cooking isn’t always second nature to people, and Collins has the perfect advice for those who are interested in learning how to be better cooks without spending a fortune. His favorite method is watching cooking videos on the Binging with Babish channel.

“I love watching videos on YouTube, and that's where I learned a lot of tips and tricks (about cooking),” Collins said. “To start out, definitely keep in touch with your parents if you want to master a family recipe, do some research and watch a lot of tutorials.”