Due to the chicken cosmo’s discontinuation on April 4, students and alumni were encouraged to send us tales of their favorite memories of the famed sandwich. The contest winner will be awarded the last case of chicken cosmo patties. All the entries have been reviewed and it’s time to announce the winners of the Cosmo Essay and Video Contest!

First Place - Patrick Devlin
Class of 1987 - Math

My story for the contest: (Please don't try this at home or in your residence hall!) Cosmos were the most popular item on the lunch menu during my time at Penn State. Always a long lunch line on cosmo day and many would sneak a few extra cosmos out of the dining hall for future late night snacks. The dorms did not allow any cooking appliances, so it required ingenuity to heat up a cosmo for a late night snack. My favorite: Two forks poked in each end of the cosmo, with each fork tied to a lamp cord wire plugged into an outlet. One minute later, your cosmo was ready to eat.

As I sit here with the words “say it ain’t so!” running through my head over and over like a broken record, I daydream about the great memories I have of a sandwich that I first set eyes on at the “Cactus Café” in East Halls Commons, back in 1995. The chicken cosmo was not just a tender patty with crisp breadcrumbs. It was a symbol of my younger days when I was a hyperactive freshman who would wake up with just a half an hour to dart from Packer Hall all the way to Willard Building. The beloved cosmo was the staple of the Penn State diet, for it was so many things to so many people. To me (and I’m sure many can relate), it was the glistening brown disc that acted as a vacuum-like sponge, soaking up five hours of Friday night beer drinking, while I would laugh with my fraternity brothers about who hooked up with a fraternity “groupie” the night before. It was the dependable sidekick that was there to save you from the frightening monsters being served in the commons. Shepherd’s Pie. Pierogies. Cream-Chipped Beef. Okay, I happened to like the S.O.S., but you’re getting my drift, right?

While I have so many memories of this masterpiece of culinary genius, one in particular comes to mind. It was after my first semester at Penn State. I was excited because during the semester I really didn’t have the opportunity to speak with my friends back home in Philadelphia. I was pledging, stressing out about classes, and trying to juggle multiple sorority girls at the same time. The first night back home, we all went out to Delaware Avenue for a night of partying and skirt chasing. It was great to see my friends and hear about what was going on with their lives. We danced and drank and laughed the night away. Finally, the club was closing and it was time for us to leave. We all walked down Delaware Avenue to find a place to eat. As we stood in line at some pizza and cheese-steak dive, I noticed that the menu had a “fried chicken sandwich.” I thought to myself, “Great! They have chicken cosmos!” So when I got to the front of the line, the pleasant South Philadelphian, wearing a hairnet, sharply said to me, “What’ll it be?” I said, “One chicken cosmo.” Along with several of my friends, he proceeded to berate me about how he never heard of a chicken cosmo. In a tirade laced with several expletives, he told me that only an idiot would call it a chicken cosmo and that the next time I entered his fine dining establishment, to call it by its proper name.

Why is this a relevant memory? At the time, it seemed like such a mundane thing. But looking back, it was at that point from which I was separated from my friends. At that point, I was a Penn Stater. Nobody was going to understand what I was referring to. They would never understand things like “The Creamery” or “Tussey Mountain.” As the years would pass on, I found myself growing more distant from high school buddies, and closer with my college friends. Now I’m 30, I have a mortgage and am pursuing an MBA. I still make it to at least one Penn State football game a year. Every time that I find myself in State College, I always wind up asking my friends if they feel like eating at the commons instead of the typical Penn State establishments; The Deli, Prospector’s, The Waffle Shop. Upon hearing the sad news of the chicken cosmo’s demise, I couldn’t help but enter this contest in hopes of being the last person on earth to eat an original chicken cosmo. But even if I don’t win the contest, a chapter of my life is now over. So I part with you with these final thoughts on a great dynasty that once dominated the great dining halls of Pennsylvania State University:

The chicken cosmo…13 years in my life, forever in my heart. See you on the other side!

Honorable Mention - Nick Rotondi

Video Entry

Honorable Mention - Tim Lynch
Class of 1991

The spring of 1987 found me in Boca Raton for a co-op semester. Despite the beautiful beaches of southern Florida, I was homesick for Penn State. Fortunately, an unexpected care package from dorm mates Alan Jagolinzer ('89) and Greg Gelfand ('89) really lifted my spirits. The highlight was our perennial favorite item from the East Hall dining room: a chicken cosmo patty! Sadly, ground shipping and the warm weather had taken their toll – the cosmo had traveled twelve hundred miles only to arrive covered in mold! In my imagination, though, it was delicious.