Collegian T he Cameron University
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Monday, October 6, 2014
Volume 91 Issue 5
Quick bits with Chef Rick Bayless Cameron University started as an agricultural college. Moving forward, how can we as a university keep our agricultural heritage and our ag program sustainable in modern times and during a tough economy?
What we have to do is realize that we are in an era where we have gone from pre-world-war approach to agriculture to a post-world-war two approach, which basically went to big agribusinesses and that sort of thing, and we have taught how to do that in the school very successfully. Now we’re realizing that that might not be the total answer, and we need to develop other ways of thinking about agriculture … That’s the way we developed as human beings, and what my encouragement would be to every agricultural program is to recognize that this is going to be something that is not going to go away and lead the pack in exploring how that can be integrated into a program.
Photo by Smith Steigleder
How has your background in anthropology influenced your cooking and your efforts in sustainability?
You can look at any plate of food and it can tell you so much about the people who created it: it can tell you about where they are cooking, what they value, what kinds of things in the aesthetic world they love, and it can tell you a lot about their history. The more I traveled to Mexico and the longer I lived there, the more I understood that every plate was telling a full story, and I loved hearing those stories. When I came back from Mexico, I wanted to be able to tell stories too because I really believe that you can learn so much from people. I have often said that the United Nation meetings [should be] held around tables where all the people [are] discussing things while they [are] sharing food from the same plates, bowls, platters. We would have a very different approach to the world. Once you share food with somebody, you have a relationship to them than if they are just the other. Suddenly, we’ve all kind of become one because we all recognize that we have to have food to live, and we recognize that you nourish yourself in a different way than I nourish myself but for one this is good and for two you see the person in a new light.
In the city of Lawton, we have many fast food restaurants. Do you have any suggestions on how to get people in the community, such as college students or military personnel, away from the drive thrus and back into the kitchen?
It is a really big endeavor to try to get people to start making food for themselves. I say the first thing that you have to do is get some good food in your hands, and I’m really happy that I can say that the farmers-market era is fully upon us … We have to take it in baby steps. When I was a kid, everyone cooked all the time. I remember very vividly that going to one of the chain restaurants like McDonalds was a major ordeal for us and we would do it once or twice during the summer as a special thing for being off school, and now it is just what every body eats all the time. I think we have to start to tip it back in the other direction because it is better for our health if we are eating more fruits and vegetables, but we have to have better fruits and vegetables or no body is going to want to go back to it.
What are some advantages to getting kids at a very young age cooking at home in the kitchen?
I say that you have to start them off knowing how to make really basic things … I mean really actually making something from scratch … If you make something, you want to share it with other people. Make them part of the meal. We have to invite kids from an early age to participate in cooking, so they are comfortable with the basic stuff. They don’t have to know how to do the fancy stuff.
Have you noticed customers appreciating what you’ve brought to the table at your restaurants?
Once you seduce somebody with something that is delicious, they are completely open to hearing why it is so delicious, and we can tell our story about the farmers that grew the stuff for us, the way we learned how to make this dish in Mexico through some of our staff trips there. We can share so much more stuff with them, and then they want to come back because when they leave the restaurant they feel good about being there, what they are supporting, what they are eating; it is the whole package. The questions and answers in the Q&A occured during the 20-minute press conference at 4:30 p.m. on Sept. 25 in the Buddy Green Room. The press, which included KSWO Channel 7, The Cameron Collegian and KCCU, took the f loor to ask these questions to Chef Rick Bayless.
Healthier food for a healthier country Casey Brown and Smith Steigleder Collegian Staff
The 2014-15 academic festival kicked off at 3:30 p.m., on Sept. 25 in the MCC Ballroom when Chef Rick Bayless visited with CU students. At 7:30 p.m., he delivered a keynote address to a packed audience of students, alumni and CU supporters in the University Theatre. Bayless, an Oklahoma native and advocate for sustainable practices in the food industry, is the owner of multiple restaurants in the Chicago area. He is also the first winner of “Top Chef Masters,” the host of “Mexico-One Plate at a Time,” which airs on PBS, and the author of eight cookbooks including “Mexico-One Plate at a Time,” which won the James Beard Best International Cookbook Award. Bayless said sustainability is something people can keep doing – it is a development that meets the needs of the present without compromising future generations’ ability to develop. Frontera Grill, Bayless’s first restaurant, opened its doors in 1987, and he said at first it was not a sustainable endeavor. “Our restaurant has been around for 28 years now,” Bayless said, “and we started with what I would say was unsustainable, just sort of the standard-issue restaurant procedure.” Over the years, he and
his colleagues have learned how to develop a sustainable model for his restaurants and the Frontera Farmer Foundation, which supports local, organic farming. He said most restaurants produce considerable waste and use a lot of energy, whereas his model is to promote sustainability by buying locally, recycling and turning food waste into compost. “A light bulb went off in my head that said, ‘Wait a second, I just moved back from Mexico where every region that had great agriculture had great cuisine. Maybe I need to start exploring local agriculture,’” Bayless said, “and over these 28 years we have been one of the leaders to develop more local agriculture, especially through our farmer foundation.” The move to sustainability has been beneficial, and one of the messages he shared with the crowd is that his success is in part a result of his relationship with local agriculture. “Whenever there is great food and great agriculture, the two go hand in hand,” Bayless said. “People need to eat local, fresh food. Local agriculture keeps you more tuned to the seasons, it is fresher, it tastes better and it is from local terrain.” Bayless proposed that local agriculture benefits local communities. Widespread use of local agriculture can in turn benefit the entire country. “I say we have to think about agriculture in a different way for the health of our country because we
Photo by Charlene Belew
have to get people to connect back to the local source of some ingredients,” Bayless said. “As human beings, we are built to eat sustainable stuff that grows around us. That’s the way we developed as human beings.” Bayless has noticed a trend that many people in this country primarily eat fast food instead of cooking. He said during his childhood, his family rarely ate out, but in today’s society eating on the go is oftentimes the norm rather than the exception. “If we want to be a healthy country, we are going to have to connect our food in a new way, pushing processed food to the side,” he said. While food from chain and fast food restaurants is largely processed, Bayless said much of the food available at grocery stores is also unhealthy. “A lot of what we find in the grocery stores, the commodity stuff, is not all that delicious,” Bayless said. “It is grown to be picked early and shipped a long
distance.” The country is saturated with fast and commodity food. Bayless suggested that attending farmer’s markets and sourcing ingredients locally is a starting point for the transition from drivethrus back to the kitchen. “I’m really happy that I can say that the farmersmarket era is fully upon us,” Bayless said. “So people, at least during the season, can go to a farmer’s market, buy a tomato, slice it up, sprinkle it with some salt and pepper… and have one of the most delicious things in the world, and that is not hard to prepare. We have to take it in baby steps.” The next speaker in the academic festival is Robert Glennon, from the University of Arizona, who will be speaking about water sustainability. He will be on campus on Nov. 18 and tickets will be available midto late Oct. For more information, go to www.cameron.edu/ festival2014-15.
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International Festival in Lawton
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