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Comfort Food Favorites

Fort Worth chefs and food entrepreneurs share what they crave.

Cooking for Health

Jason Wyrick’s company, The Vegan Taste, may be the longest-running vegan meal delivery service in the U.S.

Sustaining Our Food Supply

TCU-trained innovators work to preserve our resources and curb waste.

Shelf Life

TCU alumni have written about everything from Indian comfort food to French pastries, Texas diners to global beer history.

Three TCU students carry plates of food through Gutierrez Hall's sunlit dining commons.

Letters

From the Chancellor: Daniel W. Pullin on Food, Community and Belonging at TCU

From a pitmaster to a vegan chef to a wheat historian, Chancellor Pullin introduces a Summer 2026 issue about the people who nourish others.

A person holds three bags of Buffs beef puffs fanned out, with the “Meat Your New Snack” tagline visible across the tops.

Campus News: Alma Matters

TCU Student Co-Founds Buffs, a New Take on Protein Snacks

Neeley School of Business student Beckett Kitaen is betting on a product that doesn’t exist yet on grocery shelves: a grass-fed beef puff, free of seed oils.

A grazing board photographed from above, with a wheel of brie at the center topped with blueberries and walnuts, ringed by folded prosciutto, sliced salami, manchego, wine-infused cheese, blueberry chèvre, cherries, strawberries, grapes, green olives, purple carrots and dried apricots.

Campus News: Alma Matters

TCU Alumna Jennifer Ellis Murray Runs a Grazing Board Business in Barcelona

The fifth-grade teacher turned grazing-board entrepreneur walks through her process, including a TCU-themed board built for Horned Frogs.

Three whiskey bottles backlit in warm amber light, with a copper pot still visible in the dark background.

Research + Discovery

A TCU Chemist’s Case for Teaching Science Through Whiskey

Eric Simanek and distiller Rob Arnold spent a decade making the case that science belongs to everyone, with whiskey as the convenient lens and a book, “Shots of Knowledge,” as the result.

AI-generated illustrations of three dishes: a slice of toast spread with mashed green avocado and topped with sliced red tomatoes and small green leaves; a glass jar of a creamy oat mixture topped with whole blueberries and quartered strawberries; and a white bowl of white rice topped with strips of glazed brown meat coated in sesame seeds, alongside broccoli florets, red bell pepper and snap peas.

Research + Discovery

New IDLmeals App Makes Easy Meal Prep Accessible for College Students

Built by TCU students and faculty, the app offers 100-plus easy, affordable recipes designed for college life.

A herd of pale Brahman cattle with yellow ear tags stands in a dry grass field at golden hour.

Research + Discovery

Land of the Skinny Cow: Inside Cuba’s Centuries-Long Beef Crisis

TCU historian Bonnie Lucero’s new book follows beef through decades of Cuban politics, from cartel control to revolutionary land reform.

A 1937 painting by American artist Florence E. McClung titled “Squaw Creek Valley,” depicting a sweeping rural landscape. In the foreground, golden wheat shocks (bundled sheaves) are arranged in rows across a harvested field, framed by a barbed wire fence with weathered wooden posts. The middle ground shows a patchwork of cultivated fields in greens, browns, and ochres, with small farmsteads — white houses with red barns and windmills — nestled among winding pale roads. The composition recedes into rolling hills with more fields and scattered trees, leading to a hazy blue-gray horizon under a cloudy sky. The style is characteristic of American Regionalist painting from the 1930s, with stylized, slightly flattened forms and a strong sense of agricultural rhythm and pattern.

Research + Discovery

How Wheat Made Bob Wills, Pappy O’Daniel and the Kimbell Art Museum Possible

Cattle and cotton dominate Texas myth, but TCU historian Rebecca Sharpless recovers the forgotten role wheat played in shaping North Texas.

Lori Borchers, TCU nursing scholar, holds folded purple scrubs topped with packaged snacks including trail mix, beef jerky and tuna.

Research + Discovery

TCU Nursing Professor Lori Borchers on Frog Supply, Food Insecurity and Community Cafes

“You can’t take care of your mental health if you’re not fed.” TCU’s Lori Borchers on food insecurity, dignity and pay-what-you-can cafes.

TCU Athletics’ Jessica Hylander holds a fanned-out assortment of energy gels, chews, and fruit pouches.

Sports: Riff Ram

Jessica Hylander Explains the Science of Sports Nutrition at TCU

TCU’s assistant athletics director for sports nutrition breaks down the science and strategy behind fueling Horned Frog athletes.

TCU alumnus Chris Reale, operating partner of Paris Coffee Shop, leans against the diner’s counter in a black T-shirt, tattoos visible on his arm, with the restaurant’s iconic blue neon sign lit up behind him.

Alumni

How TCU Alumnus Chris Reale is Leading Paris Coffee Shop Into its Next Century

Chris Reale ’17 blends creativity, grit and hard work into a successful culinary career.

A slice of French apple tart with thinly sliced, glazed apples fanned across a flaky pastry crust, served on top of a red Paris transit map next to a silver fork on a wooden table.

Alumni

Lorie Fangio on French Cooking, Curated Travel and A Taste of Paris

The TCU alumna turned a student’s offhand question into A Taste of Paris and has led small-group culinary tours through France since 2014.

Tom Gordon, co-founder and CEO of Slim Chickens, holds a branded takeout container while seated against a red wall covered in the restaurant's signature illustrated logos and food-themed phrases.

Alumni

How TCU’s Tom Gordon Built Slim Chickens Into a Global Chain

Tom Gordon ’97 co-founded Slim Chickens in 2003 with maxed-out credit cards and borrowed money. Today, the fast-casual chain has nearly 400 locations across 32 states and six countries.

Watercolor illustration of a smiling horned frog in headphones, propped up in bed in checkered pajamas with a laptop resting on its lap, snacking on a bowl of cookies shaped like TCU rivals’ mascots — a Texas Longhorn, an SMU Mustang, a Baylor Bear and an Oklahoma State Cowboy.

Recollections

Recollections: What Was Your Favorite TCU Late-Night Snack?

Alumni late-night snacks, remembered: six decades of Horned Frogs share recollections of Frog Bytes pizza, Deco Deli sandwiches and more.

Alumni

Realsy Founders Sophia Karbowski and Austin Patry: How It Started … How It’s Going

The Class of 2017 Neeley School of Business alumni went from making acai bowls in a college kitchen to building Realsy, a multimillion-dollar snack company.

Mike Harrison and his wife, Brenda, pose with TCU Chancellor Emeritus Victor J. Boschini Jr. beneath a commissioned portrait of the couple inside The Harrison building on Texas Christian University’s campus. A watercolor illustration or painting of The Harrison building rests on an easel to the left.

Alumni

Remembering Mike Harrison ’64: The West Texas Businessman Behind The Harrison Building, TCU’s Middle-Income Scholarship Program and Horned Frog Athletics

Mike Harrison, whose quiet generosity touched nearly every corner of campus, died April 30. He was 84.

TCU quarterback Sonny Gibbs, in uniform without a helmet, winds up to throw in an early 1960s promotional photo.

Alumni, Sports: Riff Ram

Comfort Food Favorites

Cooking for Health

Sustaining Our Food Supply

Shelf Life

From the Chancellor: Daniel W. Pullin on Food, Community and Belonging at TCU

TCU Student Co-Founds Buffs, a New Take on Protein Snacks

TCU Alumna Jennifer Ellis Murray Runs a Grazing Board Business in Barcelona

A TCU Chemist’s Case for Teaching Science Through Whiskey

New IDLmeals App Makes Easy Meal Prep Accessible for College Students

Land of the Skinny Cow: Inside Cuba’s Centuries-Long Beef Crisis

How Wheat Made Bob Wills, Pappy O’Daniel and the Kimbell Art Museum Possible

TCU Nursing Professor Lori Borchers on Frog Supply, Food Insecurity and Community Cafes

Jessica Hylander Explains the Science of Sports Nutrition at TCU

How TCU Alumnus Chris Reale is Leading Paris Coffee Shop Into its Next Century

Lorie Fangio on French Cooking, Curated Travel and A Taste of Paris

How TCU’s Tom Gordon Built Slim Chickens Into a Global Chain

Recollections: What Was Your Favorite TCU Late-Night Snack?

Realsy Founders Sophia Karbowski and Austin Patry: How It Started … How It’s Going

Remembering Mike Harrison ’64: The West Texas Businessman Behind The Harrison Building, TCU’s Middle-Income Scholarship Program and Horned Frog Athletics

Guy “Sonny” Gibbs, TCU Quarterback Legend and Hall of Famer Who Toppled No. 1 Texas, Dies at 85

Thomas Gregory Sumner, Former TCU Trustee and Entrepreneur, Built Lifelong Bonds With Horned Frogs

How to Travel to Dublin and Beyond for TCU’s 2026 Aer Lingus Classic Game