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Retired WIU Department Chair Teaching Others about Food Prep During Pandemic

April 23, 2020

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MACOMB, IL – As the COVID-19 outbreak has forced the country to stay at home, talents have emerged as people have time to pursue doing what they love.

For Western Illinois University Chair Emeritus Charlene Callison, her love of teaching and of food preparation have combined and are becoming a local Facebook favorite. Callison, the former chair of WIU's Department of Dietetics, Fashion Merchandising and Hospitality, makes frequent Facebook posts outlining her journey of safe meal preparation and cooking in a pandemic environment.

From boiling an egg to tips on how to freeze fully-prepared meals to creative ways to use up produce before it expires, Callison's posts have become a must-read for many Facebook friends. She spends hours researching recipes and watching cooking networks and prepares a new recipe each day for herself and her husband, WIU History Chair Emeritus Larry Balsamo. She has a cookbook library that reaches over 200 volumes.

"As the quarantine started, I watched how everyone needed to do something, and my expertise was food preparation and food sanitation and storage," said Callison. "I have always been a teacher, and after I retired in 2003, I started working at Wesley Methodist Church on food and dinner and luncheon events. As we prepared food for the events, I would share my knowledge on food preparation with the women I was working with and they were so supportive. I read cookbooks, watch the Food TV network and read recipes constantly in order to gain knowledge, and also learn about the food industry as it is changing."

The couple also order carry-out from local restaurants and Callison creates Facebook posts about those meals with what she creates as an add-on, such as a dessert, or adding vegetables to pizza leftovers.

At WIU, Callison entertained, cooked for and catered numerous events at the University and in Macomb, some that fed more than 500 people. She taught food preparation and clothing construction at Western and hosted many departmental events, including the College of Business and Technology's etiquette dinner, which taught hundreds of students skills such as proper table manners and silverware usage during a professional meal.

"I was in charge of and worked with committees for the inauguration of every WIU president from President Bernhard to President Spencer, Wagoner, Malpass and Goldfarb," she said. "My students in Hospitality and Fashion Merchandising and I opened the Knoblauch Hall re-dedication, the WIU Centennial, the Capital Campaign and many other events where glamorous decorations were designed and food was involved."

These days, during the COVID-19 outbreak, Callison can be found researching recipes online and on television about six-eight hours per day and prepping and cooking food for three-five hours a day. She also uses recipes passed down from her mother and mother-in-law that are family favorites. If a recipe makes a 9 x 13 pan, Callison serves one quarter of it and freezes the other three sections for later meals or to give to friends.

"Larry and I are eating well, because I always make and test recipes before I put them out for others to try," she said. "In that way, I head off problems with some food preparations that are hard or can be improved for the home cook."

In addition to her posts, Callison has been answering Facebook questions about problems people encounter while cooking at home. Her food posts have numerous comments and likes and she's been asked about transitioning to create a food blog, but jokes she is "computer challenged."

"When I hear about others and how they are spending their time reading, writing, exercising, etc., I am reading food magazines, cookbooks, organizing recipes in binders, watching cooking shows and researching self-help videos on food preparation and how to store and keep food products," she said.

Grocery shopping is a passion for Callison, who does her research and prepares lists for grocery outings that can last three hours during non-pandemic times. She said she's struggled with having groceries delivered to her home during this pandemic.

As the Stay-at-Home order has covered many weeks and grocery stores fight a constant battle to keep shelves stocked, Callison said she sees herself transitioning to investigate substitutions for recipe ingredients and planting a garden this summer to incorporate fresh vegetables into her meals. She said she will later can these garden vegetables for the winter or freeze them to preserve the nutrients.

"As we are place bound and cannot run to the store, we may have to substitute and buy wisely in order to make our meals," she said. "Growing our produce this summer would go hand-in-hand with canning foods for the year to come if we are quarantined for an additional time. With the preservation of food comes the nutritional value of foods that will keep the elderly and people quarantined in good health. With the loss of jobs, it's important to make that grocery list go further and utilize every part of the product in a nutritionally valuable way."

As Callison uses her background and teaching methods to teach others about the importance of food safety, she always relies on lessons of the past, whether she's cooking for two or for more than 100.

"I hope to be able to help others with food preparation, using products they have on hand during this Coronavirus quarantine," she said. "It goes back to my roots as a home economics teacher and the talents and knowledge my mother gave me, coupled with the events and preparations I have done at WIU, with the Macomb community and at the Wesley United Methodist Church, as I am doing this project of love."

Posted By: Jodi Pospeschil (JK-Pospeschil@wiu.edu)
Office of University Communications & Marketing