The UW Cuisine Club was founded last summer by five friends with a love of great food and a desire to connect with other like-minded students. The mission statement of the club perfectly sums up the organization: “The goal of the UW Cuisine Club is to have fun, find good restaurants and learn how to cook.”

Having existed for less than a year, the club has already grown to include more than 50 official members, and more than 130 have joined their Facebook group.

Carter Yeh, the club’s representative president, said that he joined the club to meet people with the same interest because he has always had a passion for culinary arts, but has rarely had opportunities to share it.

Group members pay a $5 membership fee, which gives them discounts at local establishments sponsoring the club, including Appe Thai and Shinka Tea. Membership also comes with benefits at club-sponsored events.

Past club events have included chocolate truffle making for Valentine’s Day, a tour of the Theo Chocolate Factory in Fremont, a coffee tasting at Trabant Coffee and Chai Lounge and a sushi workshop.

The sushi workshop cost members just $3 ($5 for non-members) and included all of the sushi ingredients as well as miso soup.

“We wanted to teach people to make really easy sushi,” said club president Mego Huang.

The sushi workshop was a combined effort by the club and the Nikkei Student Association.

Club members often get together to share recipes and try new restaurants, Huang said.

“We’ve had several dining-out events around the U-District,” Huang said.

Although most of the current group members and officers are Asian, “we are looking to attract new members with different cultural backgrounds, so we can both teach and learn about new foods,” she said.

The club is especially interested in increasing its membership, so that they can provide a dining resource for the campus community, club vice president Angela Pai said.

“We hope to create a Web site where people can share their views of the local restaurants, the recipes they create, and lots of other information regarding food,” Pai said.

The club hopes to launch this food guide by the end of the academic year.

Pai cited Costa’s on University Way as her favorite restaurant in the area where, she said, “the food is delicious and the restaurant is relaxing.”

Although there are no set dates for upcoming group events, Huang said the club plans to host a Dorayaki (a Japanese confection consisting of a pancake-like pastry filled with red bean paste) workshop in the near future.

[Reach reporter Joseph Darda at arts@thedaily.washington.edu.]