Relationship with Food

It's been interesting lately as I've read articles, read books, and researched food - a theme that keeps popping up is having a relationship with food. As I type out the words 'Relationship with Food', my mind instantly thinks of making bread from scratch. There is something so humbling and relaxing for me about taking a few ingredients, spending a fair amount of time (and patience) in the process of kneading, proofing, forming, baking and cooling and finally enjoying the finished product. I also think of my mom who has a wonderful, abundant garden every year, which yields incredibly fresh, fantastic produce. When I lived in Salt Lake City, I always loved that my mom would give me loads of produce to take home; not only did I love it because she is one of the most generous people I know, but also because her garden always produces so much. Unfortunately, I'm now 1500 miles away from my mom and her garden, but I am lucky enough to have Scott's mom fairly close who also has an incredible garden who loves to share her harvest as well. I think of these ladies and their involvement in literally getting down in the dirt to create something that not only they connect with, but that they share with those around them that they care about.

I watched a documentary the other day called Food, Inc. which I highly recommend. It is incredibly insightful in explaining facts about the relationship between agriculture and large companies and involves personal stories from people whose lives have been influenced by food and their relationship with it. Some of the personal stories include: a mother who lost her young son to the E. Coli virus from eating contaminated meat; Farmers who work for (and are basically controlled by) large companies; Farmers who independently produce and their experiences and insights; a family who is tight with money and isn't able to afford expensive produce, so they buy cheap fast food instead; Big businesses and their involvement with cheap production and labor (touching on the issue of immigration). Truly, I could write this entire blog (and then some) on this documentary, but it could get really political and biased very fast and that certainly is not my intent at all. What it all comes down to is a few key points that they actually stress at the end of the documentary.

• Buy from companies that treat workers, animals and the environment with respect. This may cause you to have to do some research on various companies and what/how they produce, but it'll be worth it - In regard to any other business, I can't imagine anyone would really want to help a business that is disrespectful to their employees, so in addition to that, why would anyone want to buy from a company who is disrespectful to the actual product you are putting into your body?
  
• When you go to the supermarket, choose foods that are in season and buy foods that are organic. This is something that I really intend to work on. I think it goes down to the fact that, generally, Americans don't know what exactly is in season because we can get most things year round. I think we all get a little help of being aware of whats in season in the grocery store - usually it is the produce that is being heavily advertised and on sale (For instance, right now is a great time to get fresh berries).
  
• Know whats in your food; Read labels - Are you having a hard time pronouncing a major ingredient of a product you are thinking of buying and don't know what the hell it is? Food shouldn't be chemically complicated and most fresh ingredients (including meats and dairy) don't need chemicals, growth enhancing hormones, antibiotics or preservatives. People have been doing fine without these chemicals for thousands of years, why do we want to start putting this in our food (and our bodies) now?
  
• The average meal travels 1500 miles from the farm to the supermarket – buy foods that are grown locally, shop farmers markets, plant a garden - Truly speaks for itself. I'm actually really excited to shop farmers markets this year - the mid-west is such an exciting place to be with all the produce that is now in season and grown incredibly close.

Hope that didn't come off too preachy, but I feel it's really important stuff to consider. For me, this is essential knowledge. It would be incredibly hard to work with food with the intent of selling it to the public if I had no idea what exactly is in each ingredient and where it came from. And, I'm going to be very honest - having organic and local ingredients sells. People are (and really, should be) willing to pay for quality.

I've been reading a book called Chef's Story - 27 chefs talk about what got them in the kitchen, trying to get a better idea of the background of incredible chefs today. There have been some interesting stories and backgrounds, but in respect to this blog entry, I'm going to spotlight an incredible chef, Dan Barber. He is the chef behind Blue Hill in New York City and Blue Hill at Stone Barns in Pocantico, New York - both of which are acclaimed for locally grown and seasonal produce. He was awarded the James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef, New York City in 2006 and in 2009 was named James Beard’s Outstanding Chef. (For those of you who don't know, the James Beard Award is the Oscars of the culinary world) What sets him apart is his remarkable ideology of having a relationship with food - working with locally grown and produced food every day in the kitchen, concentrating simply on flavor. I read that one of his restaurants is on the actual farm property that he grows his produce from and people are able to connect the process of seeing the product in the ground that they will be enjoying on their plate later. I imagine it would make the entire experience so much more intimate! Here's a quote from the chapter I read on him recently:

"There are issues that are important to me. So if people are going to say I sound haughty and arrogant and elitist, well, I've stopped counting the number of times I have heard those criticisms. What is important is that organic is more than a word to slap on packaging or on a menu. It comes from organism; it means "the whole." There are three legs to it. It's not just how it's farmed, but who is farming it and, very important, where is it coming from? Who is growing your food? What community is growing it for you? That's the name of the game."

I know doing this research has proved to be more educational than I imagined - but it's really just beginning for me. I'm really excited to develop a better understanding of where the food I plan to purchase is coming from, what's in it, who is growing it - hopefully being more involved with farmers markets here in the city - and I encourage you to do the same. I imagine it's going to be an incredibly rewarding experience.

Menus and Bees. Oh my.

Last weekend, my boss, (whom we'll call Mothra - because her personality is a cross between the smarts of Martha Stewart and the confidence and power of Oprah) and I had a good conversation about my goals and aspirations for where I want to be and what it'll take to get there. She encouraged me to make a 3-5 year plan and what steps it'd take to get there. She also explained to me that one thing that she does repeatedly on a daily basis is create menus for clients - I actually had the opportunity to dabble in menu writing, but had a difficult time with it. So, I picked her mind for a while about what she does when considering what to plan for clients. Here are a few things that she mentioned that I feel are noteworthy:

• Group size: Will an elaborate dessert and plating design be cost effective (for labor and product) if the size of the party is a considerable amount? Will a simple dessert be adequate for a small group?
  
• Food knowledge: Will the client appreciate seasonal, organic ingredients or are they more happy with a generic McTGIappleday's slice of cheesecake with a dollop of whipped cream and cut strawberries? (Seriously though - what would possess someone to settle for a dollop? Unacceptable!)
  
• Season: Summer desserts are lighter and more refreshing, where fall and winter desserts tend to be more rich and decadent.
• Cost: Let's be real. Are they cheap??
  
• Demographic: Though not a huge factor, but definitely something to consider. A group of women may opt for a more healthy dessert, where men may not really care (but do they ever care? Am I right, ladies? Am I right?...Wait...)
  

The key is understanding the clients style as well as taking into consideration the food that will go before it. This information tends to be especially helpful when planning banquet events as parties ranging from 12 to 1000 will be served full courses - sometimes the desserts will be plated, sometimes it'll be buffet style.

I've actually been working with the banquet desserts over the last couple of months, so it's been a good experience to see how the desserts are handled for these events more extensively. Regarding the menu writing process, I actually had the opportunity to plan a restaurant dessert menu for our hotels restaurant. Throughout the process, I worked side by side with co-worker, (whom we'll call MFK - because her passion of food reminds me of the great M.F.K Fisher) and it was a great experience. But, oh God, how I struggled. At the time I was trying to create ideas, I was asked by Mothra what my comfort food was... and I couldn't think of anything. It was pathetic and it made me doubt myself as even being a part of the culinary world. Truth of the matter is, I do love food, I do have a passion for it (and, truly, sometimes Mothra intimidates me.)

All in all, the experience with MFK was great, but Mothra is incredibly encouraging of me taking more of a lead on this next menu change (we change the menus to adapt with seasonality of the foods we use - which results in incredibly fresh and delicious menu items). So in what will be a matter of weeks, I imagine, I will be taking charge in a menu change. I'll be writing more about the process as that develops.

In other news, how f*cking incredible are bees?! I was doing research for a volunteer project that the pastry shop takes part in every other month and the theme of the event is honey. So last night, I was doing some research to get to know a little bit more about bees and honey and I came across a fantastic website. If you can get past the horde of random advertisements, this website has fantastic information about honey and bees. Did you know that bees have polarized vision? Not only that, but when a bee finds good pollen, it flies back to the hive and communicates where the good pollen is by busting out a 'bee dance'. This isn't any ol' bee dance, my friends, this dance tells where the pollen is in relation to the suns current position as well as how far away the pollen is. Seriously? That is awesome. Check this video out:



(Ok, a small but big bit of inaccurate information is that the worker bees are female not male like the announcer would have you believe - Girl Power!) Beside the fact that the video is a little 8th grade biology, it is some fascinating stuff. Suffice to say, I have a new appreciation for honey and bees - and yes, plan to use it in my upcoming dessert menu.

Ideas and Mushy Pancakes

I woke up this morning anticipating culinary genius and soon after ended up making dense mushy banana pancakes. It's good to keep myself humble, I suppose.

At any rate, I've been toying with ideas of adding uncommon herbs and spices to desserts - I recently read an article praising a dessert for their pairing of dark chocolate and cilantro. Say what?! Sounds incredible, I know. My idea is to keep things simple and attempt to pair things that normally wouldn't mesh well in peoples minds. What those pairings are as of this point, I don't know. I do know that anise will be a part of something fantastic - not only do I love the taste and smell but a star anise is so appealing to look at. It would be fun to incorporate that into a garnish and/or plating design.

After a few days off, I will be heading back to work tomorrow. Apparently it is supposed to be incredibly busy with proms and other large events - will more than likely make for a rough couple of days with long hours - wouldn't have it any other way. ;)

Introduction

Let me introduce myself. My name is Nik, I am nearing 27 years old, living in Chicago with my partner, Scott. I grew up in Salt Lake City, UT - I only say this because anyone from there or have visited there will know the mind-frame of the culture. I'm almost timid to say that mediocrity is common and finding people who pursue their dreams and goals are rare. My dream was to open my own wedding cake business and I figured the best way to do that was to get credential at a culinary school. I went to Le Cordon Bleu in Las Vegas studying general culinary arts, got my degree and moved back to Utah gaining experience in various places well-known in the Utah Valley. Life, as it always tends to, took me on a different course. I met the love of my life and moved to Illinois, not only to be with him as he went to graduate school, but to hopefully pursue my passion more fully. After a rocky start in Chicago, due to a number of factors, I am happy to say that I have the career of my dreams.
It's strange to me how many people are awed by the fact that I can say that truthfully and without reserve. I have been at my dream job for nearly 9 months and have had plenty of experiences to refine my skills, as well as create wedding cakes on a regular basis.
But this job has something that every other job has lacked for me. I've never had to create menus from start to finish; profile flavors and being aware of seasonal items, local ingredients and organic options; consulting with clients; food-costing and taking labor into constant consideration; keeping accuracy and speed at the same level of importance; organizing time incredibly effectively; continually keeping myself in a state of mind of improvement - what is good for the shop now will need to be improved on later.
It's been humbling but at the same time, completely exhilarating. I have so much to learn and so much to improve on - and that is the purpose of this blog. To track myself as I take this journey of self-improvement. I plan on focusing on creating seasonal menu items - seeing what works and what doesn't, profiling chefs and restaurants, experimenting with different flavor combinations - essentially breaking out of the mental mediocrity I grew up with and challenging myself daily. Not only because it's expected of me at work, but because I expect it of myself. And with that, I start my pastry melioration. Enjoy.