Kevin Murnan, a junior, will be the first student of this column. He is well-known for his Instagram account, where he posts images and videos of his hobby of cooking. Kevin loves to cook and enjoys the fact that you get to choose what you make and what goes into each dish, and it makes the hobby of cooking unstoppable considering the unlimited amount of dishes one can make.

He started a blog a few years ago and started posting about the food he was cooking. As of today, he moved from posting on his blog to showcasing his work on Instagram. “I’ll post anywhere from twice a week to once every two weeks, but when I’m not posting it’s usually because I’m making the same things [i’ve already posted on Instagram]. I like to kind of push myself outside of my comfort zone and try [to] make new stuff because I think that’s [how I can] keep evolving my craft,” Murnan said.

There wasn’t one specific encounter or experience that got Murnan into his hobby of cooking, but yet a couple of different things came together that helped him develop his passion for it. “I’ve always enjoyed making art, I like to paint and I think cooking is kind of an extension of that. Making people happy and seeing them smile when they first taste my food, there’s nothing else that feels like that. I have been cooking for a long time, but I started making big meals when my brother and his friends would come home from soccer tryouts. It would be him and nine friends, what I do is I choose a certain cuisine, like Spanish and I would make a Spanish meal for the people coming over,” Murnan said.

Many people get inspiration for things based on the environment around them. For Murnan, his love for cooking was an inspiration from his mom. “My mom cooks all the meals at my house. My dad likes smoking meats and grilling burgers. I think it was a lot of my mom […] showing me the ropes. [But I have always preferred] taking the initiative and like learning from failure on my own, which will eventually lead to perfection the more I learn from myself,” Murnan said.

Kevin is still considering his options for what he wants to do with his life in the future. Cooking is a hobby he is passionate about. He enjoys the skills and the ambition of the craft as he prepares and cooks meals for his friends and family. Perhaps one day it will take off and spread beyond his Instagram page. “I think that everyone should learn how to cook, [it can be a] good life skill. This is because [when you have your own] apartment or a house, you’re not always going to be able to just survive off grilled cheese and ramen. I think that for two reasons cooking has a positive impact, […] just being able to make [food] that is healthy and has variety, but also just because it’s relaxed [and] a skill that you can home too,” Murnan said.