About the IFC

Interested in an alternative eating option that’s very chill, very tasty, and very open-minded? Welcome to the International Food Co-op at Princeton University, where culinary creativity comes with an international flair. At the IFC, we cook great food and enjoy it over thoughtful conversation, all in a comfortable and open environment in our own kitchen and dining room. Moreover, we pride ourselves in having a well-run and well-kept co-op with excellent food.

Members cook once a week with three other members, and so those who join will learn to cook cuisines from many different countries, and in the company of other food aficionados. In addition, the IFC has traditions and events that celebrate the holidays of cultures across the globe.

The IFC is located in Entryway 4 of Laughlin. Membership is only $600 a semester.

If you are a sophomore or junior interested in joining the IFC, email ifc@princeton.edu, Raphael Murillo, or Isaiah Miller, and join us for a guest meal in February.

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A (Brief) History

The International Food Co-op was founded in 2009 by two entrepreneurially-minded independents, Anupama Pattabiraman ’10 and Mike Wang ’10. A couple months into their junior year, Mike and Anu began to see ways that one could build on the successes of the existing co-ops and provide another vibrant alternative to the eating and social options at Princeton. Inspired by a class on social entrepreneurship (EGR 495, with John Danner), they began to work towards making their vision a bricks and mortar reality.

They wanted the co-op to have a decidedly international focus: international in cuisine, in perspective, and in community. The only consistency to this theme would be that the members would always be stretching beyond their culinary comfort zones, trying their cooking hand at cuisines from all over the worlds, to locales they had once traveled or hoped to one day stroll through.

And so, after almost a year of careful planning, bureaucratic meandering, wistful dreaming, and last-minute preparing, the International Food Co-op was born. The inaugural meal was served on Friday, September 18, 2009 at 6:30pm in the IFC’s home in Laughlin Hall. The theme? Greek. They served the co-op feta dip, spanakopita, chicken breast topped with green peppers and feta cheese, and rice pudding and fruit salad for dessert. Was it delicious? Unequivocally.