Es,
Augustus cool Culinary. Actually has
a trademark
on the term,
farm table
in the education space.
And and and it's not just a cliche.
Right? When you go out to dinner, these
days. Right? You open the menu or you
use the qr code or whatever.
There are certain things that you expect to
see
more than maybe we expected to see 30
years ago. Yeah. It's important for us to
know
if that Salmon was locked caught. It's important
for us to know that those finger potatoes
were from Eric Sk fault arm here and
boulder. It really is really important for people
to know that. And not every restaurant does
that, but our obligation to our students
is to at least make them aware that
they have choices.
They have choices here at the school,
I love the idea.
That we're trying to help students
to be more cognizant
about where their food comes from. Think about
it And if that helps them when they're
at the grocery store or it helps them
when they get on the phone with their
parents,
and it helps them when they go to
their first job.
When they leave a sc
to make people aware
that
sustainability
and local sourcing matter
then we've done our job. And I and
I mean not from the bottom of my
heart.
It's time for conversations about our food and
how it's
on farm to table talk with your host,
Roger Was.
On
Well, we're gonna go to another link in
the food chain today an important link. Connects
it all, and that's from as we go
from farm to table.
You know, fortunately, little more than half of
what we're consuming is going through
a culinary stage of shifts and others that
are taking care of our product, and we've
been leaving that out lately. We've talked farmers,
and we're talking to people that are distributing
the food. We're talking of different types of
of food styles, but you know what? The
it wouldn't happen if we weren't going to
be having in that an important step, with
chefs and the rest of the team
that's helping us create this magic that we're
all enjoying and I've got the perfect person
to help me with that conversation today
with Kirk Bach,
and he's the president of the
School of Culinary art and boulder, Colorado,
take Kirk, Welcome to Barbara table talk. Well,
thank you for having me. Can I just
congratulate you on that perfect
pronunciation of the latest coffee yet? Beautiful. Beautiful.
To a great start. Oh, wow,
yeah. And I could even pronounce Kirk. Right?
Too. Yeah. Yeah. My my my father law
has called me Kirk. For for 2 decades
So
congratulations there as well.
Oh, I'm not gonna say it again? Till
we get to the end of the show.
It's because, I've done it right once. And
then I have this good. I'm good. Yeah.
Yeah. Again, once I start training my brain
on something That said, okay. You got it
right. So be sure to do it again.
And sure enough. Then I'll Think it... But
maybe it's the opposite, and then I'll switch
and... Well, I'll giggle if it does not
open. Yeah. I just had. Just had a
guest on them.
He was great. And,
but he misspelled his own name,
and and Well there's that.
And and III felt bad. I was trying
to figure out being take these podcasts, and
thinking like, I'm gonna go back in and
edit it. And so it doesn't seem like
he... Then I couldn't figure out a way
to it It was just kind of, like,
wrapped around all the stuff he was saying,
and then I just had to go ahead
and point out that,
his... His name is he's miss spelling his
name.
So then adds a little comedy. Right? So
that's okay.
We have a little comedy, here every once
a while. But the today, I'm happy to
talk with you. We've had a guest from
yours... Schools.
And I'm not even saying it again right
now because I'm I'm on a winning streak.
But... And Chef Sla. I'll help you
have step. And she so highly of you.
Yeah. Well, that's nice. You know, did you
tell you what I met her when she
was working at the at the at the
farm in Cincinnati just outside of Cincinnati. Oh,
okay. I did not know that. Yeah. And
I met her out there, and it's a
wonderful scene out there.
And that's where I talk to her 1
time,
then she came over to your program and
Have talked her before I really really like
her a lot. So She she's amazing. She's
our she's our director of education and
incredibly passionate and bright and
kinda leads the way, you know, interestingly enough.
My my wife is from Ohio went to
the University of Cincinnati, and just it's a
really good point, Roger Cincinnati is a very
happening scene. It's a very
exciting community. And I I think Stephanie lives
right
across the
bridge, as they say over by the the
Baseball stadium. So I think her address is
actually Kentucky, But
she spends a lot of time since he.
And
so my wife will be super excited that
we talked about Since, Any any love she
can get.
Well, you know, I have my... I have
family out there. My daughter lives there and
with my grandson and son.
And and
where this farm in Cincinnati was out in
Indian Hills.
Okay. And Indian Hills is a beautiful, beautiful
country. And that's on the north. East corner
of Cincinnati.
And they have people coming in all the
time to get more educated on where the
food comes from and producing food and they
have chefs involved and they had the farms
involved.
And and it's quite a scene and there's
some really good restaurants in Cincinnati.
So we we always look forward to our
trip back there.
And... But I also... But also look forward
to where you're all right now on Boulder
and we... To live in in boulder as
well. And
what a good place to be?
You know, it's... I'm looking out my window
here, Roger, and I'm looking at the... That
the flat irons. It's
you know, we don't complain. It's been over
a hundred degrees for the last few days,
but we don't dare complain because
the sun is shining. It's beautiful. There's no
humidity. So we just g and barrett, you
know, having, you know, grown up in the
Midwest, They I know how rough that can
be. With 90 percent humidity. But
yeah. Boulder is beautiful. Our our campuses is
in what we call south boulder,
if you go north.
You know, less than 3 miles. You'll be
on the campus of Colorado University.
Absolutely beautiful.
And, this is 1 of 2 campuses.
Ground campuses that we have. Yep maybe 250
students or so going to school every day
here in boulder and We have another 250
students going on the school in Austin, Texas,
another super
super cool college town. Yeah. And
But, you know, the majority of our students
go to school with us
asynchronously
online,
to program of boulder runs right through
you know, this office here in the great
state of Colorado. We probably have upwards of
you know, 6000
students spread across the country and every state
of the nation. So
it's pretty much. Amazing. The knowledge.
So it's amazing. The 1 thing I think
about, and I I don't know why should
I think of this. But if you're gonna
be in a campus,
and boulder like you're saying looking up at
the flat aren't. If you start dressing, like,
a chef where a chef jacket and any
of that, like, you have on right today
or something something Then that means you can't
wear plaid or t shirts as much, which
is kind of the uniform used to be
for for boulder. Plus you can also have
to be able to come in with your
mountain bike. I And in other kind of
businesses, you could bring your own dog, but
sometimes that's probably a drawback in kitchens. Yeah.
Well, we do have our we do have
our limitations and from a sanitary perspective. But
you're right about the,
you know, the traditional wardrobe book. The area.
I I think some of that is
increased
into the the Lulu lemon world, I think
a little the a bit more than than
you might expect. But
you know, boulders
thriving
population of about a hundred and 25000
people were
super super close to the Denver airport, We're
Yep. Just you, you know, a quick drive
away from the, from the mountains, so we
can be up at 8 9 10000
feet elevation in absolutely, you no time. We
sit at around
5000 feet right here in boulder. So. Yeah.
Could not ask for a more beautiful place.
But even though you're in a beautiful place,
you're letting 6000
some peep... Both tap in. And then are
these are are people that are either wanna
to pursue a culinary career or are they
already crack and they're just trying to get
more skills to be able to advance. What's
the story? Such a great question. All of
the above, Roger, all of the above.
I would say that the
the demographic or the primary age, if you
will, of our ground campuses,
is, you know, 24 years and and younger,
a very young population. Recent high school grads,
people that
young people who just have a a real
passion for wanting to get into the industry,
pastry culinary,
plant based,
are online student,
little older skew, maybe 24 to 31.
Some are new to the industry. Some
wanna get that credential because they wanna move
up in the industry.
And some,
you know, in a very very kinda of
thoughtful, respectful way
until online education was available to them, they
weren't able to pursue their dreams because
you know, maybe they lived in the southeast
corner of the United States and they had
to take care of family, and they just
couldn't relocate
to to any city. Right? They have to
stay right where they were,
but they have this incredible passion.
And so now they can pursue that passion.
Through the magic of technology and innovation, you
know, students are able to
achieve the outcomes of the curriculum in the
privacy of their own kitchen. They're held to
the same standard,
but they're doing it in an environment that,
allows them to not have to relocate or
have additional expenses that, you know, that come
with that. So works for everybody
Well, you know, I'm always interested
in where was the Aha moment. And so
if you look at people that are on
some sort of a journey and that ends
up taking them through your your programs. And
they're online or they're coming to, the campuses
or something like that. It is there a
pattern
I mean, I'm wondering how many generally you
feel kinda came out and new down deep,
they wanted to go this way right away,
and they're kinda moving straight.
Straightforward into it or versus those that they
got somewhere else in their life and they're
not really happy And said, you know what
I really always wanted to do
was, you know, this other career.
Yeah. I don't know if that's a... If
it's possible to answer that question, but III
would sense that you would have people that
kind of both
both into that spectrum. Yeah. And and some
that wanna do a little of both. Right?
So because it's 1 school with... You know,
ground programs and online programs.
You know, life happens, Roger, things happen to
people. They they get injured or family member,
get. We saw a lot of this during
the pandemic. Oh, yeah. Yeah. You know, people
really wanted to stay close to their families.
They wanted to take care of their parents
and their
grandparents and yet they still needed to live.
Right? They needed to move forward
and
So the online platform gave him the opportunity
to maybe block out some of what was
going on in the world and and just
kinda of focus on their
on their true passion.
Well, but I was also wondering though about
the people that started a career doing something
else.
And is that I'm totally on the wrong
track. In.
Yeah. Yeah. We've seen that. We've seen that
pattern over the years. Years and years and
years ago. I was with
a school group called the Cord blue, and
you could remember when the, you know, the
dot com bust occurred, you know, in, California,
I And, you know, during that period of
time, where a lot of people, you know,
first of all, they had a lot of
money, you, you know, and and
And because of that bust,
they were finally able to do something they
always wanted to do. Wanna open up a
restaurant, I, I wanna open a catering business.
A food truck has been a dream of
mine Forever and we saw a huge increase
in culinary school attendance,
enrollment.
You know, back then. Similar, you know, to
the pandemic. Finally, finally,
the opportunity. And if you hear some testimonials
of students who, came through our program during
the pandemic. They... You know, they just get
so emotional. They couldn't believe that they could
stay home, take care of their loved ones
and still pursue their education.
Gave them a reason they were fur load.
They were... You know, they lost their jobs,
and I'm like, this is it. I'm going
to pursue what I've always been dreaming about.
But then Roger, we still have some... You
know, we have some students that come to
us that have gone through really great high
school programs, whether it's... Through the National Restaurant
Association pros star program
or Fcc cla or Skills
Or countless other vocational
avenues for students and
listen, they they they just wanna be a
shop. There's never been a more important time
for
series on Hulu, like, the bear where people
are like, Don't wanna do that. I wanna
do that. Right? Know. Yeah Yeah. You know,
as you say that, I just think of
we've got, AAA
lady that's a
daughter friends of ours, and and she kinda
of... Got a certain education to a certain
point. It was a great education and business
and and really then got into Cord on
blue and actually went to whatever you can
do it in Paris.
Went over there, did all that today. She
owns a restaurant in Monte and a restaurant
in capital, and she's opening another 1 pretty
soon.
And she's been able to really live liver
her dream. She was burst the chef, but
now she's kinda like crediting grading restaurants and...
Yeah.
And and I'm wondering in... People that are
into your program.
I... I understand the passion of food and
preparation creation and all of that,
But is there... How does it shake out
as those that that it's a root to
a, a management role or an ownership role
versus...
Being able to be the,
you know, the bearer kind of stage of
your hands on food in the kitchen and
training other people. How does that sort out?
Yeah. Yeah. And everyone's different. Everyone's different. So
there's there's no... Not this kind of recipe
to use a acute analogy of 1 1
size fits all. I I recently had a,
pastry student who had just finished his...
His bachelor's degree at Harvard University, but he
in his mind
knew
that
baking was his passion. So he got his
business background that he needed from Harvard,
came here for the skill set that he
felt he needed.
And to your point, he really doesn't wanna
necessarily
be baking every day. He wants to build
the bakery where he brings people in, you
know, that's his business mind. So
You know, we we have the luxury of
offering,
you know, diploma programs.
So those are programs.
That really focus on the hands on. So
it could be someone who already
has a degree, like, the the woman you
you mentioned,
And all they really want is more experience
with the hands on. Yeah. So they're they're
here for, you know, for a period of
time, and then they you know, get back
out into the industry.
We find that the younger crowd,
particularly their parents are looking for their students,
to earn a degree. So if that's the
path that they want to take, they can
they can earn an associate's degree with us,
which means they not only take the hands
on classes, but they they take math, and
they take tech writing, and they take history,
or transfer those credits in.
And then we have this really unique sort
of cool
relationship with a culinary school in
brands
called Du.
It's a relatively new relationship, but it's an
articulation agreement. So someone who
grabs an associate's degree with us and wants
to pursue a bachelor's
degree
can go to to to to France,
and they'll accept our entire program over there
and they can keep education going and going
and going. So
it's It's... You know know, everybody,
you know, has an opportunity to do something
that's, you know, super cool for them. We...
We... And here in Boulder, Roger, we also
have...
What I call home cooked classes. Right? So,
like, if you wanted to come in with
your family and just spend,
you know, 4 days with us, on what
we call the Tour of France,
you can do that. And that's 12 hours
and you're out. Right? But Wow. You have
a really good time, you know, cooking French
food for 4 days. Right? So I we
we just have to take care of everything
for everybody. Right? Oh I... I'm just... I'm
getting so excited about this. This is... This...
It's sounds so appealing. Which reminds me 1
of the opportunities because I had once. Was
I got to spend a day in the
kitchen at the Culinary Institute at the Grey.
Okay? Beautiful pay kitchen. Yeah. Beautiful property. Yeah.
I mean,
I don't know how I got so lucky.
I... I think I know. We actually were
bringing some other ins. We had other people
that we were bringing in, like, registered diet
and others that that we were able to
do a cooperative program. So Yeah. And and
I just thought we were trying to help
people get in and have that experience and
they all the team and we had, like,
everybody was at 1 station with a chef.
And then spread out across that large area.
And and I... And they say, hey. You
can come and do it too, Roger, So
I kinda of like,
you know, that it got a got a
knife and didn't cut my finger off or
anything, and and, you know... But it made
you feel good. Right? It made you really
feel like you accomplished something. Got still makes
me feel good. Nina, it makes me feel
good right now. I think a... Man that
was 1 of the best best afternoon of
my life. It well he, you know, before
we started recording, you, and I were talking
a little bit about a common friend and
for Na metz. And Yeah. You know, he's
he...
Was he deserves a lot of credit for,
the landscape of culinary
education today. You know? He had the foresight
years and years and years and years ago
to...
Attach a degree to culinary education brilliant. And
you know what? I mean, I I've I
met him and had him involved in some.
Program, when I was the president of the
American Lamb council.
And way before it was fashionable,
He was showing the
program What should I say there the respect
that goes beyond respect for the source of
the product?
Or the quality of the foods of the
farming and ranch practices I mean, this is
years before people were talking about farm to
table.
And
and that he was expressing that. And, Bet
right now, You... Could go back,
and you could talk to him about the
lamb,
and he would be able to tell you
the... Not only the age and where they
came from to but the breed, he would
be able to tell you that you know
what that lamb was from, a, a white
faced you,
and a blackface face ram that's probably
hampshire or suffolk,
and it was probably Columbia
and that it degrade at this, and it
might have a little bit of feed at
the end in a in a feeding program,
and
and he'd knew all about it at and
he also had met many of the ranchers,
and you could not... It wasn't just lamb.
He could take other things too.
So
I'm... I don't know why it took like,
decades for people to catch on to burden
in and some of the other vision. But
but I I would think that that's that's
a pretty widespread
respect today. Wouldn't it and that don't you
have an a lot of your students?
Come kinda prepared with a recognition of why
that's important.
Yeah. Yeah. And you said the perfect word
respect, respect for the craft? That we're helping
people learn,
and re respect for those who grow our
food. Right? And
And I use that term in general,
in in the general sense, right, grow our
animals almost grow our food.
And and I'd almost have to go all
the way back to a goose to sc.
If you go back a hundred years ago,
that gentleman
had the foresight and you can see his
picture just above my head there.
Augustus,
the foresight to
to source locally. And Yeah, and among so
many other things creating the Brigade system and
you know, putting chefs into uniforms and and
and giving them benefits and really, you know,
focusing on what,
you know, what was important to them.
But you, you, Roger, I'm not sure, you
know, that we talked about this yet, But
the Sc
Augustus School of Culinary Actually has
a trademark
on the term,
farm table
in the education space in.
Oh to help answer your question
when students find us,
they realize
that...
And and and it's not just a cliche.
Right? When you go out to dinner,
these days. Right? You open the menu or
you use the Qr code or whatever. Right?
There are certain things that you expect to
see
more than maybe we expected to see 30
years ago. Right? Yeah. It's important for us
to know
if that's salmon was line cut. It's important
for us to know that those finger potatoes
were from Eric Sk fault... Arm here and
boulder. It it really is really important for
people to know that, and not every restaurant
does that, But our obligation to our students
is to at least make them aware that
they have choices.
They have choices here at the school.
We don't always. I mean, it's seasonal. Right?
We don't always have carrots
from a local farm, but we sure try.
And if their carrots aren't available from the
local farm
because
our education here is about the technique, We
might switch the ingredient.
Switch the ingredient to something that's local.
Right? It doesn't have to be a carrot
It could be a par.
Could be an eggplant. It could be anything.
Right? And then we'll apply the technique. But
I just... I love the idea
that we're trying to help students.
To be more cognizant about where their food
comes from. Think about it. And if that
helps them when they're at the grocery store,
or it helps them when they get on
the phone with their parents,
and it it helps them when they go
to their first job
when they leave a sc,
to make people aware
that that that
sustainability
and local sourcing matter
then we've done our job. And And I
mean that from the bottom of my heart.
You know, I I really appreciate that. But
it makes me pause a little bit and
kinda wondering it's with chicken and the egg
thing if I'm kind of mixing my metaphors
here,
because on the 1 hand,
I can see the role of a school
saying that, you know, this is important
for, say, society.
Or, I could say it's
it's important for the local economy or it's
important
because of taste.
And and and also, it's important because it's
important already to customers.
So so somehow, you kinda have to touch
on a little bit of all that don't
you. I mean, and and so it's gonna
the people that are gonna come to your
restaurant.
Are going to are gonna be able to
tell the difference. 1 are gonna be able
to feel the difference perhaps,
and would appreciate that it's important enough for
you to possibly mentioned it on the menu
and be able to answer questions about the
supply.
A really, really good friend of the school.
And and someone who's become a dear friend
of mine
and my son,
because we visited the farm together as a
gentleman the name of Lee Jones. He goes
by farmer Lee Jones,
and his family, and I'm sure you know
them, Roger. Yeah. His his family at you
know, has a has a farm called the
Chefs garden in Euro, Ohio. And.
You know, we've been working with the family
for several years now, and it really
took on a new
sort of appearance during the pandemic. Right? Right
and he was trying to figure out,
how to get product to to the to
the restaurants that we're posing,
and that sort of thing. But,
We... He says it perfectly. Every 6 weeks,
we have a webinar
with our online students.
Just formerly,
myself and how many hundreds of students wanna
join in. Right?
And we sit there. He sits there on
the farm,
with a with a beautiful bounty of seasonal
product in front of them. You. And we've
got it down to an art. Right? We
know we wanna talk about the history and
why
that particular farm is so special on the
on the, you know, you know, the shores
of lake Erie and all of that. But
the 1 thing that I love about formerly,
he loves 1 question,
1 question more than anything that he's ever
asked, then that is when a chef calls
and says, is what should I put on
the menu? He loves that question. Because 1
he gets a little... He gets a little
excited about it. Right?
Because his answer is easy,
whatever's in season. That's his answer. Right? We
have... You might think to yourself
you know, we control the narrative here on
ground. Right? Because we bring the product in.
We put it in front of our students.
We help them.
Understand flavor profiles. They bite into the products,
whether we're breaking down a whole hog or
or a leg of lamb or flying fish,
whatever it is or biting into a carrot.
Online, we have to really
evan. Right? We have to we have to
ask students for action. So we we we
have a we have AA1 class in particular
that I I jot it down for our
chat today.
And they have an assignment in their class
where,
we we focus specifically
on seasonality. And all we ask them to
do
is to make a soup and a quick
bread. So so by the time they get
to this class
they understand knife cuts, and they understand how
to make a stock.
So they understand the technique of how to
put a soup together, but we ask them
what we encourage them to do
is to go find some local ingredients. We
are not... We don't prescribe,
that their,
miss min soup has to have. This this,
this, this and this,
what we what we encourage them to do
is to find ingredients that are local that
they can afford
that they could put together and create a
soup to using the technique that we encourage
them. And and that has been
particularly
rewarding that this
it used to be... Sorry if I get
2
on my on my soap box here, but
it used to be Roger 30 years ago,
40 years ago,
that that if you wanted to know about
culinary,
the craft to culinary or baking,
you had to go to culinary school because
that's where knowledge was kept.
That's where it was kept. Whether you liked
it or not, there was no social media,
There were few culinary books. It was all
in the talk of those who stood before
us, but that has changed.
There's more
education.
Social media,
video... There's so much education
everywhere everywhere around us, not just in culinary,
in any field field of study.
All we ask are instructors to do today,
and it's a tough job It's a rewarding
job. It's a wonderful job to be an
instructor to be a teacher. Right? What we
ask them to do today might even be
tougher than it was 30 years ago, we
asked them to be facilitator of knowledge.
Flip the classroom,
ask your students
send your students a video, send your students
an article, send your students something. And then
when you come together,
ask your students what they think.
Stop lecturing at them, talk with them.
It's not easy for everyone, But that's that's
that's the approach that we try. And and,
you know,
you know, so far so good. Well, and
and you know, I'm thinking back at Farmer
lee Jones.
Yeah. Yeah. Be think about.
Yeah. Well, that's true. And the for people
that... He's been on... He's been on farm
table talk. I don't like him a lot.
Oh, yes. That's great. So you're get out
there. I gotta take a picture and send
it to him later. I'm gonna take a
picture of us, and oh, 0, I'll send
it to him. Yeah. Yeah. We talk weekly.
We talk, do. Yeah. You know Yeah. So...
And when when you're out there, Does he...
Was is he wearing the bib overalls with
a white shirt and the the... He's got
13. He's got 13 outfits and they're all
the same.
We think about it He and his brother,
Bob. It's such a... It's such a wonderful
relationship. Bob's. Spends most of his time, you
know, on the business on the on the
on the research, the lab,
and and Washington Dc and that sort of
thing interacting with American Farm bureau and all
of that.
And and farmer is
you know, you you probably saw an Instagram,
Thomas Keller celebrated his t
anniversary in Napa last week. Right?
Well, guess what? Formerly was at the top
of the invite list because he knows everyone
there.
He has dedicated his life and his family's
work to
providing
what chefs want. That's what he should've have
called is. This fits that he he creates
what chefs want. If they want a Zucchini,
the size of your pink Pink, that's what
he's gonna grow.
And and it's it's pretty special. It's pretty
do you know and and another...
Group like that. That... I know you... Did
you know John and Su Jam that had
lamb back in Pennsylvania, but they also had
that relationship with chefs and they're good friends
and they they've recently retired from having the
processing plant, and I think they're gonna start
getting some more sheep again. But but I...
The thing that really struck in my mind
from what like 5, 6 minutes ago or
so when we started you started mentioning farmer
Lee Jones.
Was
the important question
that he said.
That
because it strikes me that when you were
going the list, of what's required for people
that are in this profession, the chefs in
the culinary
traditions and so forth.
You could have added humility, which is not
what
normally gets in the lineup of being a
typical chef personality.
But it but the humility of being able
to meet, I don't have all the answers.
And to be able to go to the
farmer and say, what I put on the
menu or what should I be looking for
right now? Because the farmer knows what's growing
well and what's getting tremendous flavors right now?
I that's a really important point, Kirk. Yeah.
I I was... And I'm sure you're familiar
with...
But
Dan Barber chef bob and in, you, New
York area there blue Blue Hill,
And III was there a years ago,
just to experience the regenerative
nature of what he's created there. Right? Mh.
And it was really interesting because he was
talking to us about the lamb,
and he was talking about
where the lambs were grazing.
And in his mind,
he knew that certain times of the year
that his customers
would appreciate a certain
sort of flavor profile. Yep. So he had
lavender
over on this hill. Right? And and he
would ensure that the lamb passed through that
area,
and then that lavender
scented lamb would be accompanied by a specific
wine and a in a specific, you know,
side dish, and then he had other
you know, examples of that.
And and until used...
And I I was there with my wife,
and,
I mean, it almost becomes emotional, like, Sure.
Yeah oh my God. We're so thoughtful.
Right? And so
respectful of the animal
that you are
you know, you're you're respecting how they live
Yeah. Before you turn that into a product
for your customers. And and
it it's it stayed with me.
And Dan Barber was boulder or not that
long ago.
At at at the boulder library, which is
a sanctuary on Pearl Street. Right? Sure. Just
talking about what was his recent book at
that time and
you know, the, you know, people were crying
in the
in the audience because of how much respect
he has,
you for the way they raise their animals,
and what they feed them. Right? And Yeah.
What your experience is,
you know, and he's blessed to be able
to do something like, that. Right? Family farm
But he was getting
he was getting his lamb from
John and Su in in Pennsylvania. Isn't that
incredible about I... And they they introduced me
to him, and we we've spoken and we're
still trying to get
a time scheduled for Dan Barber to be
to be a guest. On the show, oh
my gosh. That's would be amazing. That be
alright.
I've been to the restaurant of Into Blue
Hill before and Had a wonderful meal. But
I doesn't... But the stories. I mean, you
know, from his books and and so forth,
when you see it, when you see somebody
that is engaged to that level? And has
that appreciation
for for nature and kinda going with,
you know, what's seasonal and what's, you know,
the best place to look for this product
and and and for that product. So
Like I know it like, right now out
here in
Sacramento.
I'm buying a lot of stone fruit.
I mean, you know, the... I just had
I switch my whole breakfast idea so that
I can,
have some of these wonderful peaches. There's a
place called,
twin peaks, and there's some, some other orchard
around here that they just unbelievably good. And
It won't it won't be much longer before
the pears are equal in and
enjoy it while you can.
And isn't it funny that different play? I
spend some time. In Oregon. That's where I
went to college.
And,
you know, there's specific places in the country.
In
you know, your watermelon had to come from
Eastern Oregon. It's just, you know, your your
peaches... III love, you know, it's that time
of the year. Right? And Colorado,
there's only 1 place to get peaches and
that is in Pal. Right? Yeah. Just
you know, outside of grand junction there. And
and
you, you know, the other thing, Roger, if
I could, I wanted to just mention
you know, you talk about farm the table
and you talk about respect for the farmer
and those who grow our food and those
who harvest our food. We, We have the
luxury on both our Austin and Boulder campus
of allowing students and in 1 of their
final... Classes, which is call farm the table
ironically,
that visiting the farms is part of the
curriculum. Right? So in their last block,
which is 6 weeks long. They... You know,
they take 5 or 6 visits
to the farm. But but the farmer
drives that narrative, Right? So because
Because this curriculum goes all year round,
we will be visiting farms
in January and in February.
Not just July, August September. Right? So there
are an amazing amount of things,
that happen on farms as you know Yep.
All year round.
And so that gives our students an opportunity
to
help playing a field, help,
you know, build a building or
or not just harvesting beautiful crops,
listening to a farmer story of what they're
working on. Eric Sc,
is a local farmer here, He and his
wife Jill,
have been
farming over 400 acres for years. They also
have a few restaurants
on
fourteenth or fifteenth and pearl. Right? So so
everyone knows black cat. Right? Mh
years ago, not that many years ago, but
a handful of years ago, Eric was our
graduation speaker, and
we we have beautiful
graduation ceremonies on the campus of Colorado University.
Well in a in a beautiful, beautiful auditor
called Mack. So really, you know, it's an
emotional place. So Eric is the
Is the speaker this Sunday morning. He text
me says, I, sorry I'm running late.
He finally gets there. He's got boots on.
And they're filthy.
And he he leans over
and he whispers to me on stage,
sorry the pigs got out this morning,
And benny leans over to me again and
says, what do you want me to talk
about?
And I said talk about that.
And he did. And he did. Right? So
farmer lee's been a a speaker at our
graduation, and, you know, he didn't need a
podium because he
almost immediately moved that podium aside.
Got right in front of the the the
students just talking about his life.
It's so we'll talking about lives. Let's talk
about Yours for a minute. I mean, we're
talking about all these other people on the
journey. I mean, how did you get enthused
and find yourself where you are today
and, and a chef. And then in a
program like you you have right now where
you're influencing 6000 and others a year that
are coming up a and and have that
vision. So at 1 point in time,
you got
You got the vision. You got to say,
oh, okay. I'm going this way. Tell us
about that journey for yourself and how you
ended up doing what you're doing today? Well,
it's it's so kind of you, Roger. I
appreciate the opportunity to share. I'm... You know,
I'm proud of,
you know, my family. And so I'm I'm
I'm a...
Fourth generation,
cook as my dad always
keeps me humble, and reminds me. You're a
cook for life.
Other people call you a chef. You don't
have to call yourself a chef. So my
father,
my my mother and father both come from
Germany,
my mother from the northern part, my father
from
the the far southern east
east,
part, Bo. He's bo.
Mh.
And that area of the world kinda, you
know, 1 decade, it's France, the next decade
it's Germany, so it goes, back and forth.
But after the war,
war war 2,
you, you know, his his his father, my
grandfather was killed
at stalin G German soldier, And, you, you
know, they were forced out of their home.
And
you know, I didn't know this story until
years later. Right? My dad's pretty humble. He's
still alive 88. And
you know, a, like, a lot of people
they were
displaced
from their homes and 5 you know, a
farm
farming family took my my father and his
3 siblings and his widowed mother at 30
in, and
And he's always spoke very enduring of how
well he was treated
by this farming community that was kind of
you know, new to him. And
as is typical in Europe, my father as
soon he was
of age started what's called a journey ship,
So he worked for 6 years and a
variety of bakeries around the country,
and then completed a 3 year apprenticeship, which
is a little bit more of a formality.
And then in 19 58, he,
earned what's called the Mice brief, which is
his master shelf level.
In Du Do Germany. And in Germany at
the time and still today,
you can work in a bakery without being
a mis, but you can't own a bakery
without being a Mae. And his dream was
to come to America,
and that's exactly what he did in 19
60, landed in Chicago and
went to work for Lu bakery, which is
still there in Chicago today,
landmark with a bunch of other European
you know, pastry chefs and bakers, and
I came along in 62, and
know, grew up there in Chicago. In the
seventies, we moved to Colorado
to the Western slope of Colorado, a Gun
in Crest butte area and, you My parents
are still in that area. We got into
the hotel restaurant business, and
I did everything I could, Roger to not
get into this business. I thought I was
gonna be playing center field for the Chicago
Cubs. I had no doubt in my mind
that that's what I was gonna do. And,
center my dad, I I went to the
University of Oregon because we had relatives up
there.
And,
as... I couldn't get a job to save
my life.
Sup... My dad sent me to culinary school
after that. There was a small culinary school
in Portland, Oregon
and run by a bunch of European chefs
and
And that's where I found myself. Roger. That's
that's where I found. I fought it, but
the but the Dna was flowing through me.
I did not
kinda fought the pastry side of things. I
like the I like, the creative side of
things.
So I I pursued that, and I know,
and I did my my country club,
chef Stint in the Hilton hotel and Western
hotel. And
and
you you know, came back and ran the
family business as well. And
years later, III
had the opportunity to
to go back to Portland and teach.
And I thought how hard can that be?
Go there and teach people how to cook.
Right? But
It was the most fulfilling and
hardest
job that I've ever had. And, you know,
and I had some luck. Right? I met,
you know, Jack Larson, who's the, the founder
of,
And back then he was the the person
that brought Cord Blue to America, and I
had the opportunity,
to start managing that relationship. And
and here I am. You know, you you
said earlier too
I I remember what the question was, but,
you know, how do you find yourself here?
I I have to throw
I have to throw a bone to the
great state of Colorado and the great creditor
that that a accredited...
Our school asset out of Washington Dc.
I gotta go back to 20 14 and
you know, crazy things were going on in
the world and, you know, cost of education
was going through the ceiling and
and, you know, we all got together and
realized that,
there must be a way that we can
take some of the food... The the cost
out of bringing students to culinary school, traveling
across the country, We didn't have online at
that time.
And,
you know, III went on a site visit
with our creditor to another school to just
help them out.
With a, a self study.
And I and I looked at the person
I was traveling with, and He said,
hey were thinking about taking culinary school online.
What do you think?
He said I think it's incredible. What can
we do to help?
2 years later, we launched
we launched to Sc,
programs online and gave access
to countless people who wouldn't be able to
pursue culinary education because they were restricted by
their, you know, their con. So
it's
you know, I'm I'm I'm, you know, Roger,
I did... It it's it's...
When I when I think about
how influenced I, was by my father, and
his
just attention to detail and his,
you know, his love for the craft, you
know, here we are in Gun in Colorado
outside of Gun in Colorado,
you know, a farming community,
resort community. They'd never seen...
Venus sc or black forest towards or apple
str
and
and he eased into it, and we,
you know, had a beautiful run in that
community with just introducing different types of food
to people who had never had access to
the... You know, who loved our food the
most
were were veterans. Veterans that had spent time
in Europe, eating European food, you know, braised
items, pork roast, Gu wash, things like that.
They're the ones that
you know, got emotional about coming to eat
with us. But
anyway, I can go on forever, but that's
that's a little bit about how I
I landed here at ed,
and
glad I did. Well, I'm glad you did
too, and I'm glad you've landed them farm
the table talk But now let's talk about
how their people could land there as well.
So
I... If they've been paying attention to us,
they can now pronounce es Sc.
All twice 2 for 2. You know. And
I know. And I was just Why not
go for it. And but I... But... Spelling
it. People aren't gonna be sure How many
guess is and f that you have to
have. So why didn't you tell people how
they can get more information and people just
want to know what you're doing or maybe
somebody wants to get involved in the in
the in the program themselves, How do they
how do they find you. How does that
happen?
Yeah. That's... I I appreciate that very, very
much.
I did wanna mention real quick if I
could because. He's... Become a dear dear friend
of mine, but
Augustus I mentioned earlier, but his great grandson
on Michelle
Is still with us. He's 80 years old,
he lives in the south of France,
He runs a museum
in the South of France, which was a
goose
Childhood home.
And
in in a in a month or 2,
I'll take a handful of people to the
South of France to
Es employees,
to visit the the museum. And he sits
on our board and I I just always
like to,
he was the number 1
the number 100
that I had
or earlier in the year. So is is
an amazing
amazing human being. But you can find us
at a sc dot EDU. That's ESC0FFIER.
You said it beautifully. It's sc dot EDU.
That's our website.
The name of our podcast is the ultimate
dish. You'll find that on the on the
on the website as well.
We we bring new students into our programs,
both on ground and online.
Every 6 weeks all year long.
We have programs
in culinary arts, pastry arts, plant based cuisine,
holistic,
nutrition and wellness,
entrepreneurship,
hospitality, restaurant management.
So there's a little bit of something for
everyone,
And
you know, it's a it's a it's a
fun place to be. We're on Instagram as
well.
So we're we're we're on everything social media.
So Not hard to find a coffee.
Well, I'll tell you what. I have a
feeling that there's some... Somebody listening to this
right now. It's gonna try to find you.
We we end up having a a the
a good audience
both around the country and some around the
world, mostly as you might guess in English,
speaking countries. Yeah. But but also, I'm glad
I discovered your podcast as well. I've have
to listened to your conversation with Ferdinand met
speaking and brought some memories and and to
next all podcast.
Congratulations.
Oh, thank you so much. This has been
so enjoyable, just a easy
conversation, and
I'm so glad that we we met, and
maybe we can figure out a way to
get you on to our podcast. That'd be
a fun chat as well, I'll be happy
to do that. And and actually, I wouldn't
rule out going to meet with you in
the south of France, but we'll have to
negotiate that. I figured you might say that.
Yeah.
And
Hey, Listen. This has been has been great,
and I appreciate it. So we'll come back.
We'll do this again.
Thanks for being on Farm to table talk.
Thank you so much, Roger. Take care.
You've been listening to farm to table talk
with your host, Roger Watson.