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This project was made possible by a grant from the Mississippi Humanities Council

Project Contributors:
John Hunter Allgood, John T. Edge, Amy Evans, Mary Beth Lasseter and Kendra Myers

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Sigma Chi Fraternity:
Mechille Ivy, Cook

“If I was at home I’d say I do home-cooking like country-cooking. That’s how I cook at home. Up here, it’s a lot different from the way I cook at home because I can do stuff like I want to at home. But, they try to watch the calories and stuff like that with the boys. So, you can’t add too much starch and you can’t add salt.”

--Mechille Ivy

What follows is a portion of the original interview that has been edited for length. To download the entire transcript in PDF form, please click here.

HOUSE: Sigma Chi Fraternity @ The University of Mississippi
SUBJECT: Mechille Ivy
DATE: March 23, 2004
LOCATION: n/a
INTERVIEWER: Mary Beth Lasseter

Mary Beth Lasseter: All right, today is Thursday, March 23, 2004, and this is Mary Beth Lasseter. I am at the Sigma Chi House on the campus at the University of Mississippi interviewing Miss Mechille Ivy…What is--what is your birthday, Mechille?

Mechille Ivy: December the 12th--13th, 1972.

So, how long have you worked…at the Sigma Chi House.

And I’ve worked here for two years.

And, what brought you here?

Well, I was doing home healthcare, and one of my patients died and I got attached to her. And, I didn’t want to go back to home healthcare. And one of my aunts was working up here and she told me they needed an opening, and I decided to come up here. And, I’ve been here ever since.

Was your aunt working here at the Sigma Chi House?

No, she worked over on the girls’ side. Let me see what’s that--what’s the name of the house she works at? Um, I can’t think of the name.

But, she works for the sorority here on the campus?

Uh-huh.

Okay; and then how did she know that there was an opening here?

One of the guys went over and was eating in the house with one of the girls, and they asked if they knew anybody who wanted to work because they had an opening.

Oh, so the students through word of mouth.

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Tell me a little about what you do.

[Laughs] Well, it has changed a little. I um, was coming in at 2 o’clock. I was part-time when I first started. And, I come in and I cook, help the other lady cook, and around Thanksgiving of last year, she--one of the guys quit, so she needed somebody at the spur of the moment around the holidays, and we figured she couldn’t find anybody to clean the house with that little short of notice. So, she asked if I wanted to do it. And, I started doing it, and I’ve been coming in at eight every morning since.

So are you full-time in the kitchen only or do you work in the house?

No, I work in the house, and then when I get through in the house, I come up in the kitchen and work in the kitchen.

Okay; now you’re the only one in the kitchen right now. So who usually works in the afternoons, or is it always you?

Willette--I work in the afternoons, and then Willette is here in the afternoon. Debra is here. She comes in, in the morning and cooks breakfast and leaves at 10.

Could you describe a typical day for me?

[Sigh] Real busy [Laughs]--most of the time it’s real busy. Sometimes it may be slow. It depends on the boys.

[H]ow do you decide what you’re going to cook?

We normally do a menu, and then we figure out what type of meats we’re going to have, and then we normally just decide at the spur of the moment what type of vegetables that would go good with the--the meats.

So do the boys have any input in that, or--?

Yeah; we um, ask what do they like and then they’ll give us some suggestions and we’ll just pick a day and decide when we’re going to cook it for ‘em.

So that informal; like they’re coming through the line or do you all have meetings with the president and things like that?

No, the--the House Mother does or sometimes we’ll just--when they come through, we’ll ask do they have anything different that they want to eat or anything. And, we’ll write it down and make a list for her. And, she’ll talk with them, and she’ll order it for them.

Do any of the guys give you recipes from home to try out?

No, they haven’t yet. They’ve been talking about it, but they haven’t yet [Laughs], so.

Okay; where do you all get the food from? If you’re choosing recipes--I mean if you’re choosing vegetables at the spur of the moment, how does that work?

Um, we--we normally keep vegetables in the cooler and the canned goods and stuff; so we just decide--we go to the pantry or whatever and decide what we’re going to pull out of there and cook for them.

Now, who orders all that food?

Miss Lucy [the House Mother] normally orders it.

Okay; now do y’all do mostly canned vegetables?

No, we’re doing lima beans today. They’re just not in the can [Laughs]. So, we do green beans--this comes out of the freezer and stuff like that--black eyed peas, corn.

Is there something you serve that the boys just won’t touch?

[Laughs] No…They love broccoli; they love cauliflower, and stuff like that. They--we just really haven’t cooked anything that they won’t eat.

Good, good; now does the food come from a commercial vendor or farmer’s market?

Sometimes she goes to the farmer market and gets the vegetables and mostly--mostly--the--the majority of them come from the--whatever that thing is. [Laughs]

The foodservice company?

Uh-huh.

So how many people are you cooking for on any given night?

Uh, I’m going to say around--between 175 to 200 guys a night.

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So what time does dinner start--or supper?

It starts at 5 o’clock on Tuesday through Thursday, and on Monday they eat at 5:30 because they have a chapter meeting on Mondays.

Are any of the students picky eaters or are they health conscious?

Yeah; we have a few that’s picky eaters. So, they normally make--they--we’ve got a couple that try to eat healthy. They don’t like a lot of fatty foods. [Laughs] So some of them will come in and they won’t eat anything but some--like grape nut cereals or something like that--maybe some fruit or something. We’ve got a couple of them that’s kind of picky--some of them--not many, but we know that--that they just--we’ve got one that he’s real healthy like; so he loves like oat brans and stuff like that. So, we try to keep stuff like that for him because he’s got some nights he will eat a regular meal and some nights he won’t; so.

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Are they allowed to use this kitchen to cook for themselves?

I don’t--I don’t think so. They’ve never been here to try to cook anything. So, I don’t--.

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Now, do y’all have a lot of leftovers and what do you do with them?

We don’t have a lot of leftovers most of the time. They will eat everything that we put out. [Laughs] So, they don’t know what it is to get leftovers over here.

Well do you have one particular recipe you can think of that they just love or hate?

They love the Chicken Rotelle…It’s like a spaghetti-like, and you add Rotelle to it with cheese and um, chicken.

Name some stuff that you’ve cooked maybe this week or last week.

Uh, I mostly do the vegetables, like black-eyed peas and lima beans and fried okra, corn--what else--mashed potatoes, a lot of different vegetables, broccoli.

How do you mash potatoes for that many boys?

[Laughs] We have to buy the instant potatoes [Laughs], and I just watch the line and whenever I get low--I normally make two pans to keep me ahead of myself and when I see that they’ve gotten to the second pan and I know that the line is still long, I know I’m going to go ahead and make my third pan. And, normally three and a half pans will last me if they’ve got extra vegetables to go with it…So tonight they’re going to have mashed potatoes and they’re going to have fried rice with um, lima beans and meatloaf.

And, meatloaf--how do you make your meatloaf?

Willette does that. [Laughs]

Willette does that? So everybody--

She normally does most of the meats.

So everybody has a specialty?

Uh-huh.

That’s interesting; how did--how do you get your specialty assignment?

I don’t know; I guess we just worked amongst ourselves and decided, “Okay, you’re going to do this and you’re going to do this,” and we just decided like that.

What would you call your style of cooking?

I wouldn’t--I wouldn’t know what to call my style of cooking. If I was at home I’d say I do home-cooking like country-cooking. That’s how I cook at home. Up here, it’s a lot different from the way I cook at home because I can do stuff like I want to at home. But, they try to watch the calories and stuff like that with the boys. So, you can’t add too much starch and you can’t add salt.

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How did you learn to cook? Who taught you?

I learned on my own. I’ve been--I’ve been away from home every since I was 16 years old. So, I figured if I had to eat, I had to learn how to cook. So, I just went in the kitchen and started practicing and I figured if I could do it that one time, I just kept doing it. [Laughs]

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[W]hat is your favorite part about this job?

The favorite part is probably coming in and doing things for the boys all the time. I enjoy doing things for other people.

Now, do you know the guys here pretty well?

I know most of them--some of them, I know them by face, but I can’t call their names. But, the majority of them, I know them--I know the faces and the names; so.

Do they come back in the kitchen a lot?

Yeah; we’ve got a--I’ve got a couple of ‘em. They come every morning at 8 o’clock. They come in and they give me a hug every morning. And then at lunchtime when they pass me again, they give me another hug. And when I get ready to go home they give me another hug and tell me they’ll see me the next day. So, they’ve got--I’ve got a couple of ‘em that comes in and does that every day.

That’s nice. Do they talk to you a lot about school or home?

Yeah; a lot of them talk to be me about passing tests and stuff and studying and stuff; so.

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Do you ever come up to the University when you’re not working on weekends? Are you a big Ole Miss fan?

Well, I come up a lot and go to the coliseum and walk a lot. My kids come up like when y’all are having football games and basketball games and they work the concession stands and stuff…They do it through our church. They just--the church I guess just got into it for something for the kids to have to do. So, they decided instead of them running up and down the road all the time, just having something to do to come work the games and stuff. And, my kids enjoy it.

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So, how many family members do you have working um, within Greek organizations on campus?

Uh, a lot [Laughs]; I do have a lot. I can’t count. I would say probably about anywhere from 15 to 20 works for the University.

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[H]ow do you keep up with the guys after they graduate, or do you? Do any of them come back and visit?

Some of them do; sometimes it [leaves] a while before they come back and visit, but most of them come back and visit.

On football weekends or--or when?

Yeah; or if they’re having--if Sigma Chi is having something special, they’ll come back and join in with ‘em. So, we--we still get to see most of them. And, then most of em that’s graduated, they--some of them still live close by. So they’ll come up sometimes and eat supper with the guys.

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Do you enjoy what you do?

Uh-huh; yes I look forward to it. When I’m not here, I be--I be saying I need a break sometimes, but then when I’m not here, I be glad when I go back to work. [Laughs]

To download the entire transcript in PDF form, please click here.