By Sara Noelle On
As the smell of rising dough and cinnamon sugar wafts around the room, a woman in a white overcoat, sporting a Martha Stewart smile, announces today is 'yeast bread' day.
The woman in the white overcoat is Pearl Phillips, a professor of the BYU Family Life and Home Economics Education Department, teaches the Basic Food Preparation Class -- Home Economics 110.
The students are taught basic cooking skills, from how to prepare foods from scratch to how to use the equipment properly, Phillips said.
Each week the students are instructed to cook something different, and they are able to sample each other''s final product at the end of the class period.
Many students find food a luring factor, so people are clamoring to get into her class.
'We always have to turn away at least 10 or 15 people from each section, and we have four sections,' Phillips said.
She finds this class is becoming increasingly more important for students as they leave home.
'We''re just finding this generation is not being mentored into the home, and basic meal preparation is critical to a happy family,' Phillips said.
Students are also attending the basic cooking class for a variety of reasons.
'Students will come in recognizing that food preparation is necessary for marital happiness and other students recognize it as an important skill in being a future homemaker,' Phillips said.
Reid Landeen, 19, a freshman from Clarkston, Wash., majoring in computer science, doesn''t feel at all intimidated by the fact he is one of the few males in the class.
'You get to eat every week, and it''s definitely better than the Morris Center. Everyone on my floor (in Deseret Towers) wants to be here,' Landeen said.
Taylor Joo, 19, a freshman from Seoul, Korea, majoring in business, said he thinks his mom will like him better for taking the class when he goes home for the summer.
However, Deanna Cox, 21, a junior from San Jose, Calif., majoring in history education, is just taking the class for extra credit hours.
'I''m taking this class mostly because I need the credit hours, and plus, cooking is a valuable skill,' Cox said.
By the end of class, students, still in their aprons, are milling around to sample the different breads others have prepared.
One girl leans back in her chair and pats her stomach as if she is full -- until someone temptingly offers her a scone she cannot resist.