5:30 PM is the exact time that that I would hear doors opening and closing down the hall in the McPherson dorm. During the Winter term, however, the symphony of doors was mostly replaced by that of doorbells; “Your pizza is here!”

In Immovable Feast, Chang-Rae Lee describes his own food-related experiences at boarding school. The detailed descriptions that the author provides makes me reminisce on all the small and almost imperceptible features (that I never gave much thought) that makes eating at boarding school so unique. As I read, “the doors opened at 5:30 PM,” a wave of nostalgia hit me, making me realize how time is such a crucial ingredient at boarding school cafeterias. There were days, for example, when athletes would end practice early and sit by the steps of Irwin, intently looking at their watches, waiting for 5:30 to hit.

Another quote from Chang-Rae Lee’s essay that greatly resonated with me was: “a cold supper, for me, is like being dipped in a melancholy sauce.” The vocabulary and imagery the author uses perfectly captures the experience of eating a cold dinner (especially in the winter) at boarding school. This quote rang especially true in my ears since cereal was the meal my friends and I had when we had to rush to class right after dinnertime, leaving us about 10 minutes to walk to and from the cafeteria. This type of meal usually felt unfinished, and made me miss the experience of cooking dinner with my mom even more. Not only did the cold milk in the cereal had little resemblance to mom’s warm soup in the wintertime, but the experience of grabbing a bowl and pouring the food with a ladle instead of with a cereal scoop felt a lot more comforting.