EIU Civil Service Council presents the first-ever EIU Eats Cookbook to fundraise money and share the recipes of many staff members and students alike. 

Ke’an Armstrong, the Publicity Promotion associate says that this book is to actually help fundraise money for the Civic Service Council scholarship offered at EIU. 

“We just recently gave a $1,000 scholarship to a student for this upcoming fall. And so, you know, the sales of this cookbook will help fund the scholarship,” Armstrong says. 

Two years ago, the group sold one-of-a-kind 150th anniversary Christmas ornaments to fundraise money. Last year, they worked with the same vendor and created specialty EIU frames. 

But Armstrong is hopeful that the cookbook will be something that can continuously fundraise money by itself because the book will be offered for the summer, and the fall semester. 

“If you’re on campus, you can choose a civil service council representative to hand deliver it to you, or we can, you know, put it in campus mail but it’s all available,” she says. 

What exactly is in the book?

According to Armstrong, the book itself clocks in at around 200 pages, with 132 recipes hidden inside. She admits to adding a few recipes in the book herself, along with many other WEIU members and non-negotiated employees. 

Everybody has their own reason for sharing a recipe. It may be a story and maybe a person you know that brings back memories and maybe an event and maybe their culture or even something health oriented. So I’m like, let’s just open this up to everybody. It can be staff students, faculty, alumni, annuitants, people who have retired.”

The book has taken a bit of time to create due to the influx of recipes and trial and error with book formatting. But Armstrong is confident that with this final copy, they finally got the outcome they were looking for.

“I’m just looking forward to having the final copy and being able to try out some of these different recipes that people have submitted. People that I’ve known on campus or newcomers to give me new ideas.”

One of the recipes that has a large following is a famous taco salad from a former employee. While it may seem like a simple dish, this appetizer has appeared at many WEIU events due to how delicious it is. 

Armstrong says that this recipe is definitely one that is going “down in history.” 

It is a great and fun way to recognize other staff and other students that have such unique food.  You know, reading Korean dishes and things like that. So I mean, she’s been fun. And I think that it’s going to be something that is going to be a good fundraiser for the scholarship this year.”

Armstrong feels that this book is something really special and timeless because not only does it have so many recipes, but it has the recipes from so many different individuals to really make it something meaningful. 

“I think that’s what the campus needs is a sense of togetherness, a sense of working toward a common good, working together, working for the students, you know, a sense of unity.”

So far, there are 51 standing orders, but Armstrong is sure that the orders will come flowing in by the time the school year begins. 

One cookbook costs $20, and two cost $30. 

To order a EIU Eats Cookbook, please see the link below and fill out the order form to get your very own EIU Cookbook!

Eastern Illinois University :: Civil Service Council Scholarship Fundraiser (eiu.edu)