Tufts chefs discuss their culinary journeys

When Richard Morgan started working at Tufts in 1973, the Dewick-MacPhie Dining Center was different from today's current setup that was inspired by the Marché restaurant chain — more similar to a traditional cafeteria system.

"You had two choices when I first got here,” he said. “There wasn't even a salad bar. That was an option for a meal — a chef salad.”

A sous chef in Dewick, Morgan has been working at Tufts for almost 43 years. His daily responsibilities include running the kitchen, assigning work and organizing.

Discussing the changes Dewick has undergone during his time there, he pointed out in particular the major renovation which occurred in 1995.

“They literally gutted the whole building,” he said. “All that was left was the roof and the four walls; everything else was taken out. They rearranged everything and built what you see out here today."

The change reflected trends in campus dining towards a new concept of university dining, a path which Tufts helped pioneer.

"We were leaders in that way,” Morgan said. “I mean, there were a couple of others because we visited other schools when we were looking for what works and what doesn't, so we were trying to pick the best of everything of people that did recent renovations."

Along with changes in the infrastructure, the menu has changed over the years. Morgan said his favorite dish to prepare is chicken and penne with Cajun cream sauce, a popular dish among students at Dewick. He had the idea for the recipe after eating a similar dish in a T.G.I. Friday’s restaurant, and he later experimented with ingredients to create the dining center dish.

"I've seen a million changes around here,” Morgan said.

In addition to Morgan, behind the dining halls, cafés and other food service locations on campus, an extensive team of cooks and chefs prepare the food for the Tufts community. Depending on the type of food, it could come from Central Culinary, which is located under Dewick, where items like soups and pastries are prepared, or from kitchens in each dining area.

Paul Rudolph, a culinary production chef, has also been here for 32 years. Working in the Central Culinary kitchen, he specializes in preparing soups.

“When I went to high school, I decided I wanted to cook," Rudolph said. "I worked here as a high school worker, and then I left for about a year, went to college and then I came back. The day after I graduated college, I came right back and said, 'Hey, have you got another job full-time?'”

Rudolph recently drew attention for his award-winning chili recipe, which he entered into the Chili Cook Off to benefit RESPOND, a Somerville-based non-profit that works to end domestic violence. According to Rudolph, last year he submitted both a beef and a vegetarian chili in the competitions, but the vegetarian option was unable to be judged as it was the only vegetarian submission. This year, there were others who submitted in that category.

"It's a big thing, you know, vegetarian food," Rudolph said. "It's not necessarily a major part of everybody, but a lot of people like to eat a little bit more exotic or organic, university-wide.”

Central Culinary also prepares foods for catering events in the Tufts community. The events can range from anything from a department lunch to a formal function to a baby shower, Ghiloni explained.

"We mostly serve Tufts alumni and the different departments,” Rudolph said.

The menus for these events are ordered and prepared within a certain timeframe, but chefs can have some more sway over the catering menu than that of the dining hall, which is predetermined. Rudolph said that chefs can suggest items and also make special recipes for catering.

Susan Ghiloni, the pastry chef with Tufts Dining, works in Central Culinary and prepares pastries for several eateries on campus, including cash locations like the Commons Marketplace and the Hotung Café. She talked about her experience working in the Boston Harbor Hotel for several years and then Davio’s Cucina in Chesnut Hill before coming to Tufts.

“College was the time that I really got into baking and pastry, and when I was working at Davio's, coming from a hotel, I was used to lots of units and a lot going on,” she said. “Going back to a restaurant, it was awesome to be part of the opening team, but it's just one thing going on, and I really like having all the different units. So when this job came up, I said, 'I think that's something I'd like to try next.’”

Ghiloni also explained that she must account for portability when creating new recipes for pastries. Some items have to be conveyed in a truck to Carmichael and must be processed and served by the staff there. Additionally, quantity is a concern for storage space.

“Space is always a concern,” she said. “Do we have enough refrigeration? Do we have enough anything? So we can't we can't give them so many things that need to be refrigerated because they run out of space too.”

Ghiloni explained that she enjoys making more complex pastries.

“I would say it's more delicate [to make] pastry," she said. "Something that has a lot of components, a lot of different textures. A lot of baking takes time. It's not 'you mix something, you bake it and it's done.'”

When Ghiloni first started, she said that she generally followed the recipes which the dining center had previously served. However, over time, she has developed the menu and hopes to add some new options in the upcoming summer. 

"Now that I've been here a little longer, I know that a lot of these things have been running for a very long time,” Ghiloni said. “Some of them are still good, and some of them have just kind of run their course, so that's actually what I try to do in the summer. I have a lot of things set up to test the summer so that we can start making some changes and vary the menu a little bit.”