Spoon University soon arriving at University of Richmond

Calling all University of Richmond foodies, Spoon University is coming to campus.

Food-loving students Isabelle Andrews, Carlie Johnson and Niki Warden have been petitioning to bring a Spoon University chapter to University of Richmond. After receiving over 300 signatures, these students, along with Virginia Myers and Kelsey Cahill, will launch the chapter in Fall 2015.

Spoon University, founded by two students at Northwestern University in 2012, is an online publication about food and beverages that encourages people to “eat and drink intelligently.” Spoon University targets college students, and the website now has over 1800 student contributors at over 50 campuses around the world.

This year, Spoon University contacted Andrews, who has been running a personal food blog, izzybakeoven.com, for several years, asking her to lead the movement to bring Spoon University to Richmond. She enlisted the help of her food-obsessed friends Niki Warden and Carlie Johnson at the beginning of the spring semester to start the petition to bring Spoon University to Richmond.

“Spoon University brings people together who are excited and passionate about food,” Warden said.

Once the chapter is established, all of the publications will be curated by University of Richmond students and catered to our student body. The website is designed to teach users the ins-and-outs of dining around Richmond, both on campus and off campus.

Spoon University offers more than just food-related benefits to Richmond students, Andrews explained.

“Spoon University will give students employment opportunities, leadership positions and real life experience of writing for an online publication,” Andrews said.

Johnson shared similar feelings.

“Spoon University is a fun and welcoming environment where reviews are actually written by students. It provides an outlet for all of my restaurant research and allows other students to get involved,” Johnson said. Johnson keeps an ongoing list of local restaurants, and is excited to share her dining experiences with the Richmond community.

Multiple University of Richmond students already have experience with similar, personally run outlets. Freshman Virginia Myers started her Instagram, @eatstagrama, in April 2014 to combine her love of food and photography. Kelsey Cahill is another food-obsessed student who started @thenomdiggity this semester. Myers and Cahill will both be assisting in the launch of Spoon University next fall.

Andrews has been running her personal food Instagram account, @izzy.bakeoven, for multiple years. As a senior leading the Spoon University movement at Richmond, she wants to assist in creating a strong leadership team to lead the chapter’s launch in the fall.

They are currently looking for applicants to become a part of the University of Richmond team. Openings are available for editors, staff writers, photographers, videographers, marketers, and event planners that “love a good meal and want to talk about it.” Applications are due on March 30.

Contact reporter Lauren Gill at lauren.gill@richmond.edu