When current RA (and Ego of the Week) Bobby Lundquist (C ’16) was interviewing for his RA position at Fisher Hassenfeld College House at the end of his sophomore year, he was asked: “What do you want your residents to remember you for?” His answer? “That I made fresh bread for them every week.” And make fresh bread he has.
Since the beginning of the 2014–2015 school year, Bobby has made Bread and Jamz a weekly fixture in his hall, the first floor of McKean in the Quad. Bread and Jamz is an open space held most Sunday nights from 9 to 11pm, in Bobby’s room, where anyone is welcome to come mill around, drink tea, enjoy some music (“jamz”) and, of course, eat some freshly baked bread.Bobby first became partial to bread-baking after spending the summer after his freshman year as a "hut croo" for the Appalachian Mountain Club at the the Lonesome Lake Hut, a mountain hut by the Appalachian Trail. There, among a multitude of other responsibilities, he spent his weeks caring and catering to the guests as best he could, and he aims to extend this same creed of hospitality in Bread and Jamz.
Bread and Jamz’s reach extends far beyond his hall of 9 residents. It’s meant to—and does—attract Penn students of all years from many different niches of campus, with a near–constant stream of people floating in and out during it’s two-hour span.
Many facets of Penn culture involve a certain amount of institutional or social exclusion. Some of that can be justifiable–often, groups can’t effectively develop themselves without some sort of limit on who can become a member. But, this also creates a sharp distinction between who is “in” and who is “out”. Bread and Jamz, on the other hand, works precisely because of its in inclusivity. With open doors, it invites and welcomes any and all students to enjoy some notably delicious glutinous creations with good company.
The word Bobby describes the intended character of Bread and Jamz is “nourishing.”
Street definitely left feeling that way.
Click here for the Bobby's base bread recipe
Bread and Jamz happens every Sunday, 9-11pm in 109 McKean and is open to all.
