Thyme
Spring 2017
Discover food, from the farm to the table
Farming for the
Future
Culinary Culture
Behind the Food
In Austin, a city with an extensive farmers market system, young farmers are starting businesses geared towards sustainable, organic farming techniques that benefit the environment. They are working to become more aware of the environmental effects of farming, and are attempting to educate their communities on the importance of local, organic food.
14 Start from the Beginning
With hundreds of restaurants opening in Austin every year, there’s a lot of competition and few survive. Three resturant owners, Fox Emmett, Suzanne Daniels & Sarah Olano, and Jonathan Chun successfully opened new restaurants in Austin in 2016. Hear their stories, and find out what it takes to do the same.
20 Culinary Culture
Take an inside look into what it takes to work in different culinary environments in Austin. Three different chefs, a baker, a personal chef, and a worker in a food truck reveal their stories. They all had different things to say about the food industry in Austin and share their own personal experiences.
26 Behind the Food
With a booming culinary business, Austin is a unique place to own a restaurant, with a vast expanse of different types of cuisines available. Follow the stories of restaurant owners Teresa Wilson, Kenneth Vaughan, and Kevin Quach and how the Austin restaurant scene affects their businesses.
32 Hedgeucation
School lunches are notorious for their tastes and wappearances, with the occasional cookie the highlight of a lackluster meal. Regulations stop lunch companies from delivering good flavor, and budgets block good quality. Gardens could supply the fresh fruits and vegetables missing in children’s diets.
Contents
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Contributors Thyme
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Lucas Stockton wrote the articles “Hedgeucation” and “Flavors of the Future”. In his free time, Lucas plays video games, watches Netflix, and rides horseback competitively. After LASA, Lucas plans to find a career in organic chemistry, especially in pharmaceuticals and other health applications.
Aidan Foucher rows and swims competitively throughout the year. He has 2 sisters, a mother and father, and enjoys hanging out with friends. He gained interested in interviewing chefs in Austin when he found out his magazine’s topic was Austin cuisine. Learning firsthand from local chef ’s about the industry was Aidan’s goal.
Claire Worley enjoys playing volleyball, reading and baking in her free time. Claire enjoys baking cupcakes, cookies, brownies and cakes, and enjoys eating them. Claire’s favorite foods are TexMex and Italian. Claire has always enjoyed trying new food.
Helen Mah enjoys baking and painting. She loves to bake desserts like cake slices and macaroons and is always searching for new recipes. She doesn’t eat out often but when she does, she normally goes to Italian restaurants because her favorite food is pasta.
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r e t t Le r o t i d E from
the
For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved food. I was the adventurous one, trying frogs legs and escargot at four on a trip to France, and enjoying food so spicy it made my eyes water just a few years later. Wherever we went, I was never afraid to try something new, while my twin brother Owen stayed steadfast in his diet of cheese and bread. My passion for the environment came later, after a week long period of watching all of the food related documentaries I could find on Netflix. I quickly became vegetarian, and have come to passionately support the local food movement. Although the things I eat have changed, my enthusiasm concerning new, interesting, and flavorful foods has not. In this issue of Thyme I invite you to explore your love of food with new recipes, new restaurants to try, and a unique, inside look into the experiences of the people who grow, prepare, and contribute to the process of bringing the food we eat from farms to our tables.
Emma Rowland Linder, Thyme Editor and Co-Founder
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Farming for the Future Photos and story by Rowland Linder
B
The stories of sustainable Austin farms
etween 19 and 29 percent of greenhouse gas emissions are produced by agriculture and food systems. As the effects of climate change on the environment increase, becoming agriculturally sustainable will have a big impact on the world. Local farmers all around the country are attempting to do just that. In Austin, a city that has a thriving farmer’s market system and a population that values sustainable food, young farmers are starting businesses that are aware of their interactions with the environment and are
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working to become as green as possible. They are making the decision to become more sustainable and more conscious of the environmental impact of agriculture, and are attempting to educate their communities on the importance of local, organic food. “[We looked] at agriculture as a place where we could potentially have a big impact on sustainability and on public health, and create a business that aligned with our values and that we could feel really good about,� says Lloyd Minick, a co-founder of Agua Dulce Farms. Other local farms in Austin are also trying to
“Farming with the land is so important today.” According the McClure, farms are on the front lines of climate change, which is having a big impact on what farmers are able grow. Becoming more sustainable helps lessen the influence of agriculture on the environment. “[Agriculture is] one of the top contributors to climate change. That’s the big thing. Smaller farms are looking at ways to not have such an imprint on the land,” says Brandon Mallonee, the greenhouse manager at Johnson’s Backyard Garden. Despite the stigma attached to farming, young, educated people are now going into this business and are starting urban farms with missions to positively impact their local communities.
One of the two aquaponic greenhouses at Agua Dulce Farm in Austin, Texas. becoming more sustainable. “It’s really multifaceted. It’s important ecologically, philosophically for me, health, nutritionally. All these things. Ecologically it’s important because we’re taking care of our land better,” says Charlotte McClure, the assistant farm manager at Johnson’s Backyard Garden. Many other small farms in Austin value sustainability, and are changing the ways they farm because of it. “I think that sustainability is one of the most important challenges facing humanity in this, in our lifetime. In this century. If we don’t start building more sustainable systems for producing our food, for producing our energy, doing industry, we’re going to have some major, major challenges. It’s going to bring a lot of suffering to the world,” says Minick.
“We wanted to create an urban farming company really centered on aquaponics and other intensive, organic, sustainable methods, and we wanted to do urban farming so that we could be like right there next to the people where we could serve a really fresh, local product, but also have education and all the community engagement that you’re able to do with urban farms that’s not so easy with farms way out in the country,” says Minick. Because of better education, organic food is getting easier to sell than it was in the past, and people are starting to become more interested in food grown locally. “Austin is probably the best place to be for a small local farm,” says McClure. “The customer base in Austin is really more educated then a lot of the other cities around here, and they know the importance of organic food,” says Mallonee. “There are a lot of people who don’t see the value of like paying a little extra for something that’s really good.” Local, sustainable agriculture is having an impact on nearby communities as a result of the efforts of farmers. “People are inspired by what we’re doing. They love our mission. They want to be a part of it because it feels meaningful. It feels like we’re doing something important in the world,” says Minick.
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why urban farming is such, so important to us, because by being in the city you can be connected to people. That can affect the food system in a much bigger way than just growing, you know, food on three acres,” says Minick. As the environment changes and global warming becomes a reality, farms are moving toward sustainable agriculture, and a growing population of people believe that locally produced, organic food is beneficial not only for their bodies, but for the environment. Young farmers are attempting to influence the world in a big way by changing the ways that they farm, and by educating their communities.
Purple cabbage at Johnson’s Backyard Garden just outside of Austin, Texas. Farmers are also working to educate the public on how their food is produced. “I think it is important for people to understand about food, about the food system, where their food comes from. Not everybody needs to be a farmer or a gardener. Not everybody needs to be involved in the physical labor of farming, but I do think our society would be better off if more people knew more about it,” says Minick. Small farms are trying to work with nature, not against it, says McClure, and that is a big part of sustainable farming. “Eating food is something most people do every day. You only get one body in this life. What you put in it matters,” says William Scoular, an organic farmer in Santa Fe. One of the other missions of Agua Dulce Farms, besides growing fresh, environmentally friendly produce, is educating the community. “I would like people to eat healthier food; I would like people to eat more sustainably produced food, and I think that comes down to education. That’s a big part of
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Brandon Mallonee (right) and Charlotte McClure (left) at Johnson’s Backyard Garden, inspecting their plants.
Field of lettuce at Johnson’s Backyard Garden.
Top 5 Queso Places in Austin By Claire Worley
It’s no secret Austinites love their queso. This list will help you find some of the best queso in Austin.
1. Torchy’s Tacos Torchy’s green chile queso with guacamole, cilantro, fresh cheese and diablo salsa is well known where ever a Torchy’s Tacos is. It is vegetarian.
Photo by Kimberley Vardeman
2. Kerbey Lane Cafe Kerbey Lane has a variety of different quesos. They have Kerby Queso which is queso with guacemole and pico de gallo. Kerby Lane also has a Cowboy queso which is Kerby queso with black beans. You can buy classic or vegan queso as an appitizer as well as at Whole Foods Market.
Photo by Steve Santore
3. Matt’s El Rancho Matt’s El Rancho has multiple types of queso. They have classic chile con queso. They also have the Bob Armstrong Dip. The Bob Armstrong Dip is the chile con queso with guacamole and taco meat.
4. Chuy’s Chuy’s has a chile con queso which is melted cheese with green chile sauce and ranchero sauce. Chile’s also has Queso Compuesto, which is chile con queso with ground meat, guacamole and pico de gallo.
Photo by LoneStarMike
5. Maudie’s Maudie’s has chile con queso and Diablo Sol Food. Diablo Sol Food is chile con queso with beef, pico de gallo and guacamole.
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tart from the eginning If you want to open a restaurant
By: Helen Mah
“D
on’t be discouraged,” said Suzanne Daniels, one of the two owners and founders Brentwood Social House, a coffee shop. “Don’t be discouraged too quickly. You’re going to have obstacles come your way and you have to continue to persevere.” In 2016, 100 new restaurants opened in Austin, but not all of them grow to be big and popular. Here are some tips from three restaurant owners that successfully opened new restaurants in Austin between 2015 and 2016.
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1. Photo credit: Helen Mah
“T
his is one part of what you call hospitality industry. If you don’t like people, you shouldn’t start. If you don’t know how to smile, you shouldn’t start. If you don’t know know how to provide full of your courtesy to serve someone else, you shouldn’t start,” said Jonathan Chun, the owner of a Japanese restaurant, Hanabi, and a sushi restaurant, Sushi Hon. Owning a restaurant is not an easy job. There is lot to learn about the business and everything going on around the restaurant. “Business! You gotta know the business. It’s so so important, first and foremost, and you to be a people person,” said Fox Emmett, the founder and owner of two Italian restaurants Asti and Cantine. “I know people in the restaurant business that don’t like dealing with people, and it’s like, that’s the fun of it. That’s what’s so great, to go out and deal with customers.” Before going into the process of opening a restaurant, there need to be solid knowledge of how the business is run. Because a big part of running a restaurant is what happens outside of the kitchen. “First is finding a location, and determining that if it will work for your concept and what you want to do,” Daniels said. Finding the location is very important because it builds a strong base. The location is what determines the concept, food, and the level of service. It is important to find a good location, but coming up with a concept that really fits the neighborhood is just as important. “If you want to be a restaurant entrepreneur, that means you have to go around, eat a lot, and look around and collect all those kind of ideas as much as possible, like interior wise, concept wise, and the food,” Chun said. Going out and eating helps to get information and ideas for the concept of the restaurant. Making notes about how the concept fits along with the food, neighborhood, and service. Opening the restaurant should happen last. Everything else needs to be completely done and checked over multiple times so the restaurant will run smoothly after it opens.
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2. Photo credit: _____ ___
“It’s easier to do a pre-existing restaurant, certainly costs less money. You know, when you do a restaurant from scratch, a basic restaurant is a million plus dollars, so you gotta raise money and kinda do all that,” Emmett said. Doing a pre-existing restaurant is easier and more efficient but only if little change is done.
“But really the most important thing is service. Hospitality and service. Because you can go to a restaurant and food is really good, but if you get treated poorly, you get attitude, you’re not gonna wanna go back and spend you money at a place like that,” Emmett said.
“Between my wife and I, we do have chef backgrounds, and we do manage the restaurants. If we need to jump in the kitchen, and do something in the kitchen, we can do that,” Emmett said. “We can have chefs working in the restaurant but we also understand what it takes to be a chef cause we were.”
“If you make a mistake with your food, but the service and the hospitality is there, you’ll still want to come back and try it again.”
“I think that a lot of people wanna go into place and just completely rip it out, and start all over and spend a bunch of money. But I think if you are creative and smart, you can do a little bit and change the space and not spend a lot of money,” Emmett said. “Restaurant people have this tunnel vision, and they like have to do this restaurant this type of way, and depending on your location, you might need to change it up.” Restaurants are not as easy as they seem. There is way more to prepare and learn.
“I tell anybody that I talk to who wants to become a chef to go to business school, and learn business, and work in a restaurant, in the kitchen, because, first and foremost, you have to know business,” Emmett said. Having experience working in a restaurant prior to being an owner really helps. Because it is important to know how everything in and out of the kitchen is run, and have at least some knowledge of the restaurant industry.
When opening a new restaurant, the most important key to keep in mind is that whatever comes across is just an obstacle to go around. Somewhere in the process there will be difficulties, just know that it is something that happens to everyone.
Hospitality and service is what attracts customers, but there is important traits every restaurant owners should have. “Patience is a really big big trait you gotta have. It’s like having kids, patience, patience is a big thing, just taking your time and understanding that everybody is a little bit different as far as your staff goes,” Emmett said. Patience is very important, but resilience is too. “Resilience; being able to just keep going and going and being positive,” said Sarah Olano, owner and founder of Brentwood Social House. The last tip is that having a chef background really helps. With chef background, it is easier to manage the things going on in the kitchen.
3. Photo credit: Helen Mah
3.
4. Captions: 1. Fox Emmett is the owner and founder of Asti Trattoria and Cantine Italian Cafe & Bar. 2. Umiya sushi restaurant opened their second restaurant 6 months ago. 3. Suzanne Daniels (left) and Sarah Olano (right) opened the Brentwood House Social together in 2016. 4. Jonathan Chun owns a Japanese restaurant Sushi Hon and has been in the restaurant industry for almost 30 years.
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Flavors of the Future Unicorn - Cloud City Ice Creams in Portland
Oregan invented an ice cream flavor based on a unicorn. Red velvet cake acts as the flesh, a strawberry drizzle takes the place of blood, and mascarpone icecream stripes represent the fur.
Earl Grey Blueberry - Cloud City Ice
creams also carries many tea-infused flavors. Tea flavors are becoming increasingly popular in ice cream shops across the country as tea itself grows in popularity, this one being a delicious combination of a classic tea and delicious berries.
Pistachio - Pistachio is very popular in
ice cream shops all over. The savory flavor mixed with the cold, sweet ice cream makes a delicious treat for hot summer months.
Cilantro Lime - Lime and cilantro are
both common ways to garnish mexican food, whether it be tacos, carne asada, or even ice cream. Cilantro lime is one of many original flavors available at Lick ice cream in Austin Texas.
Roasted Beets and Fresh Mint - This eccentric flavor includes sweet and savory roasted beets in combination with fresh garden mint to bring a clean, fresh flavor to ice cream in Austin. Roasted beets and fresh mint is another original flavor. Thyme
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Ice cream is an american tradition. With 80,000 ice cream shops across America, you can not get far without seeing a dispensory of this delicious frozen treat. The world of gourmet food and fresh ingredients recently adopted ice cream into the new wave of higher quality in your everyday eats. Two shining examples of this revolution of ice cream are Lick Honest Ice Creams in Austin Texas, and Cloud City Ice Cream in Portland Oregan. Bryan Gilbert, owner and founder of Cloud City Ice Creams, has been leading the pack in the ice cream community of Portland. Even with his expertise and homegrown wisdom of ice cream, he can use every competitive advantage he can get. Gilbert always has his mind on improving his business and serving the customers, saying “I’m pretty confident we have the best ice cream in Portland but we can definitely make improvements to the aesthetic of our store”. One of the qualities that makes his business stand out from the rest is that he uses only the best ingredients. “It’s crazy how much of a difference the right ingredients make. We get a lot of compliments on our pistachio ice cream because the quality is so high and it’s actually made from real Sicilian pistachios” Gilbert says. Ice cream is a free-for-all in terms of competition, and with competition comes creativity. “So much of our success is due to [the staff’s] ingenuity in making the store and ice cream production more efficient. They also make customers feel loved and that’s what makes Cloud City a special place for people to keep coming back” says Gilbert. Lick Honest Ice Creams has struck the same gold mine, but this time in Austin Texas. They pride themselves on quality of ingredients and lack of preservatives or artificial flavors. Lick has created many interesting and inventive flavors in their ice cream, including goat cheese, thyme, and honey, as well as lemon poppy seed thyme. Ice cream has come a long way from its original form, taking on new flavors and a new vow of quality from shops in many places.
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Culinary Culture By: Aidan Foucher Three local chefs, and bakers find joy in preparing food for the citizens of Austin, Texas.
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Preparing meals in three completely different circumstances three Chefs all ended up pursuing their dreams all took various paths to get where they are today. Personal Chef Eric James, Judy from La Monarch, and Sharon from Easy Tiger Baker all currently make their living cooking meals for the local citizens of Austin, Texas. They all ended up pursuing their culinary dreams and are happy with their roles in the establishments. “It was hard at first to make a name for myself and get recognized but after a lot of hard work and reaching out to a lot of people I started gaining some consistent customers,” James said. He started working as a chef in a restaurant but decided to open his own personal chef business after tired of being bossed around. “My mom has always done tamales you know that’s her main thing that she does but we do quesadillas my stepdad likes to play around with ingredients wi th quesadillas,” Judy said. Judy learned to cook from her mom when she was 10 years old.
There’s less stress getting to do stuff your own way and not having to worry about being judged by a boss. “Since I was little I have always loved to bake so coming to work and baking makes my job really enjoyable. Baking to me is also a bit of a stress reliever because it is something I know so well,” Sharon said.
“We try to go with authentic Mexican and not really mess around with the Tex-Mex because that’s a whole different flavor”
“We try to go with authentic Mexican and not really mess around with the Tex-Mex because that’s a whole different flavor,” Judy Said. She says tex-mex is overused in Austin and there is a lot of competition for a small food truck to keep up with. “It’s easier, you don’t have to do you know and I don’t want to say laid-back but it’s more you know not you don’t have to watch out for your boss having to please others,” She said.
Doing what they want is something all three of these chefs have in common and when you do what you want you are able to thrive and produce food with your own personal style and flavor so it kind of makes it an art in a way. “It is a very competitive industry that is continuously growing with how many restaurants are popping up” People in Austin love food and restaurants constantly go out of business due to other, more popular restaurants near less popular, new restaurants. “I feel like if they generally like you and they like your food it’s more laid-back I’d say so it’s not as stressful as it seems” Working in a food truck seems stressful to the general public but in reality there isn’t very much pressure.
“This attracts a lot of local Austin citizens who tend to be younger. We have a very big variety of people that come to eat at Easy Tiger. Some are parents with children, some are high school students, and some just workers coming in for a treat.” Being a chef in Austin comes with a lot of freedom but the industry is not easy and there is a lot of competition.
Photo from Pexals
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Above: Easy Tiger Baker has a wide variety of freshly baked muffins available daily.
Left: Blueberries are an essential ingredient needed to make Easy Tiger Baker Blueberry Muffins as well as Chef Eric James Recipes.
Photo from Pexals
Photo taken by Aidan Foucher
Below: The menu at La Manarca food truck consists of a lot of traditional Mexican food such as tamales, tacos, and burritos.
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Cooking By: Helen Mah
Linguine With Tomato Sauce Servings: 6 Prep Time: 10 min Total Time: 1 hr Difficulty: easy
Ingredients: • Pasta of your choice • 4 pounds tomatoes • ¼ cup olive oil • 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced • Salt • Black pepper • 1 pound linguine • 1 cup fresh basil
Directions: 1. Coarsely chop the tomatoes, reserving the juices. 2. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. 3. Add the tomatoes and their juices, 1 ½ teaspoons salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Simmer, stirwring occasionally, until the tomatoes break down and the sauce thickens, 45 to 50 min. 4. When the sauce has 20 minutes left to cook, cook the pasta according to the package directions. Drain the pasta and return it to the pot. 5. Add the sauce and basil and toss to combine.
Italian Learn how to make two easy italian spaghetto. They are easy and quick to make and taste delicious.
Pasta Carbonara
Servings: 6 Prep Time: 5 min Total Time: 25 min Difficulty: easy
Ingredients:
Directions: 1. Cook pasta according to package directions. 2. While the pasta is cooking, fry the bacon until just barely crisp. Remove from the pan and drain on paper towels. 3. Over medium-low heat and throw in the onions and garlic. Cook until golden brown. Set aside. 4. In a bowl, mix together eggs, parmesan, cream, and salt and pepper until smooth. 5. When the pasta is done, reserve a cup or two of the pasta water. 6. Drain the pasta and place it in a bowl. While the pasta is still really hot, slowly drizzle in the egg mixture, stirring the pasta the whole time. The sauce will become thick and should coat the pasta. Splash in a little hot pasta water if needed for consistency. 7. Halfway through, add the peas, bacon, and sauteed onion/garlic. Finish adding the sauce, stirring until it’s all combined.
• Pasta or your choice • 8 pieces diced, thick cut bacon • 1/2 whole medium onion, diced small • 2 cloves garlic, minced • 3 whole eggs • 3/4 cups parmesan • 3/4 cups heavy cream • Salt • Black pepper • 1/2 cup peas
For more recipes: http://www.foodnetwork.com/topics/italian http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/ http://italian.food.com/
Behind the Food Story and Photos By: Claire Worley
How the Austin Restaurant scene is changing.
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n Austin Texas, in 2016, there are over 200 restaurants in the approximate one square mile downtown alone. There are over 1,000 food trucks throughout the whole city.
Austinites have the luxury of a very extensive restaurant business. There are many types of restaurants in Austin. This good and bad for restaurant owners in Austin because it makes a much more competitive market. “There’s restaurants all over the place in austin and there’s a lot of different types of restaurants in Austin, in Central Arkansas you can pick a few that you can cycle through,” said Kenneth Vaughan, owner of The Purple Cow, a 50’s style diner in Arkansas. “But in Austin you can eat lunch and dinner every day of the year and not go to the same one twice and have a great experience in all of them.”
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Vaughan owns four restaurants in Central Arkansas, but moved to Austin in the summer of 2016. He and his co owner are trying to open a restaurant in Central Austin. “Now it’s not just a trend of ethnic food but definitely Asian food is very trendy right now, more so then Italian or French or American, but also farm to table definitely more support for farm to table from both the customer base and also the restaurant standpoint.” said Teresa Wilson, owner of Sala and Betty, a New American restaurant located on Airport Boulevard in Austin. “There’s definitely more support for farm-totable from both the customer base and also the restaurant standpoint.” The Asian food scene has really grown in Austin. In Austin there are a large number of Asian restaurants. There are Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese and Korean
“But in Austin you can eat lunch and dinner every day of the year and not go to the same one twice and have a great experience in all of them.”
The Sala: Left and the Betty: Right sandwiches at Sala and Betty.
The interior of Hao Hao restaurant.
restaurants in Austin. “When I first started the customers had not any good knowledge like they are now. Back then you could put anything out and they would eat it,” said Kevin Quach, owner of Hao Hao restaurant. “Now today you have to make sure it right or else they are not going to eat it. They know what Kung Pao Chicken is. You can just put something out and they eat it. Then people were not educated enough on the Chinese food scene. But now they really know what they are talking about. That’s the difference.” In Austin people really like organic, farm to table restaurants. Austinites also proudly have a strong local identity. This local identity carries over to the restaurant business, where local restaurants are highly valued.
The chocolate souffle at Sala and Betty.
“So I think that has changed a lot so when I first started
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The tall exterior sign of Sala and Betty on Airport Boulevard.
the industry we would see farmers come knock on our back door but it was very rare,” Wilson said. In Austin it would seem that it would be fairly easy to get employees because it is in its essence a college town. In Austin there is actually a shortage of workers because of how many restaurants there are. “Well I will say in Austin there is a shortage of staff. There’s so many restaurants that its hard to get good people, that are qualified. There’s it just a fight for
“The better the economy is, its kinda a doubleedged sword, the better the economy is the better business is but the harder it is to find poeple to do the job.”
see on the TV so it comes as a surprise to them that owning a restaurant is not actually like it is portrayed by mass media. “You work a lot of hours, more than anybody else does. You come in early you are going home late. They need to know that it’s not a glamour shop like the tv portrays it as. The tv chief is a tv chief and in reality it’s not like that,” Quach said. Restaurant owners have to make sure their restaurant is successful. While that is hard work restaurant owners have to love what they do to be successful especially in a very competitive market like Austin. “That you can’t call in sick, or you have to work more, you have to work a lot of days you know, that’s the hardest part. You can’t call in sick that’s the hardest part,” Quach said.
dishwashers, a fight for good line cooks, a fight for servers, so that part is really challenging” Wilson said. “The better the economy is, its kinda a double-edged sword, the better the economy is the better business is but the harder it is to find people to do the job,” Vaughan said. According Quach, most people have this common misconception that owning a restaurant is easy work. In all reality it is not easy at all. A restaurant owner tends to do a wide variety of different jobs inside the job of owner. The owner of a restaurant is all of the different departments in an office building. They are financing, quality control, and much more. “Just how thin our margins are. We work on razor thin margins. People come in and the are like ‘oh you’re charging $5 for a milkshake or $2 for a soft drink or an iced tea or your charging $7 for a hamburger.’ They think that’s expensive, they think that’s unreasonable. But there’s so many expenses that go into running the business... We are in a business of making a living, making some money, you know, we’re not a non-profit organization,” Vaughan said Quach believes that the TV makes owning a restaurant look like easy work, and most people believe what they
Wilson at work in the kitchen.
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Farm Fresh Frittata By Rowland Linder
Follow these easy steps to make a frittata perfect for any meal!
Step by Step: 1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. 2. Microwave unpeeled potatoes for 2 minutes, or until tender, and cut into slices. Add the potatoes to a cast iron skillet, which will be used to bake the frittata, and cook in oil with the onions until they reach desired texture and color. 3. Remove the skillet from the flame, and add as much spinach as desired. Add sliced red bell peppers to the top of the spinach. 4. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs (4-5 for a very small skillet, 8-9 for an average skillet, and up to 10-12 for a very large skillet). If a fluffy frittata is desired, separate the egg yolks and whites, and beat the whites until fluffy, and fold the whites into the yolks. 5. Cover the top of the bell peppers with shredded cheese, in whatever variety is preferred, and pour the eggs over the vegetables. Do not stir. The eggs should cover most of the vegetables, but not all, and will fluff up during baking. 6. Bake the frittata for 30 minutes, or until the eggs have only just set, but the top has not browned.
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Cheese contains large amounts of protein, calcium, healthy fat, and Vitamin B12, which is an essential part of nervous function.
Potatoes are an excellent source of vitamin C and B6 and contain more potassium than bannanas.
Bell peppers are very high in vitamin A and C, and may help to reduce ‘bad’ cholesterol and control diabetes.
Spinach contains high amounts of protein, fiber, vitamins A, C, E and K, calcium, and many other nutrients.
Onions help improve immunity, assist in maintaining blood sugar, and may even help prevent cancer.
Eggs are a very good source of high quality protein, and contain all eight essential amino acids.
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Hedgeucation How gardens could save school lunches A story about school food and gardens by an author in the system.
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A standard lunch offered at Lasa High school. Photo courtesy of Lucas Stockton
pproximately 31 million children in America eat school lunches every day. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) tries to keep lunches healthy, but it often falls short. The USDA’s failures leave it up to the schools and management companies to make school lunches as healthy as Possible. School lunches are too expensive for schools to provide good quality food, yet the government requires healthy food without fillers.
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Many schools around America have integrated garden education into their curriculum, which could patch the hole in students’ nutrition. “The government gives us what is called a commodity which is a government assistance food, and it’s very low quality it’s highly processed with too much sodium that doesn’t pass regulations but yet we have to follow the regulations with the sodium. I would say the quality of what the government assistance
gives us is not very good,” says Gerrett Caughey, director of child nutrition at a major child nutrition company. The regulations do not allow schools to serve normal portions or normal foods that kids would eat outside of schools.
assistance in unprocessed foods, rather than processed foods”. The government is only providing poor quality food for lunches in schools, leading to child obesity and schools being unable to comply with regulations.
“Compare our food to what you can get Some schools simply cannot afford good at fast food places, we can’t fry food, we quality lunches for their students, with have to bake foods in a different way little funding or donations from poorer that keeps the saturated fat lower, so it’s areas. a very tough business to be “The food doesn’t “High economically in because the food doesn’t taste as good as you disadvantaged schools that taste as good as you would normally think it should” are basically 85 to 90 percent would normally Caughey says. This restriction economically disadvantaged think it should” of the food causes students which means they’re at poverty to avoid school lunches and level, and having to try to complain about their flavor. modify recipes and different things that are more accustomed to Regardless of regulations, companies their school district, I had a school that are still dedicated to providing the best asked us to serve menudo for breakfast” quality food possible. Caughey says. More government funding could help schools afford good lunches Caughey says that “my company is and comply with the requests of their getting really committed, we have a chef community. on staff and we consistently try to find Some schools have enough money to ways to cook from scratch to educate provide good food, but are limited in the and teach the culinary skills that are quality of the food by the government’s needed in order to cook fresh meat, from provisions. scratch, how to flavor and season those “I would say higher end school districts with different levels of spices so that they like a Leander or a Prosper ISD where still have a ton of flavor, it’s not sodium you can go off the national school lunch filled, it’s not as processed, and trying to program, and you can serve whatever get more and more and more feedback to the USDA concerning the fact that you want, in Prosper they serve Chickfil-a sandwiches, but they can’t be fried, we need to go back to scratch cooking they have to be baked, so they’re not as unprocessed foods, and that we would comparable products to what you would prefer for the government to give us 33
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School lunches are lacking in fresh fruits and vegetables. Photo courtesy of Pexels.
that that are very unique to each different school district” says Caughey. Many students avoid school lunches as they are not as appealing as bringing or buying a lunch from another source. Schools are adopting garden education services and programs for their students, which can teach gardening and food to children who get bored in the classroom. “We reinforce Texas curriculum standards for science and some in math as well. The idea is to get kids outside learning more about how their food is grown, how to grow clean foods organically, and for kids to really get the opportunity to be up close and
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hands-on with the process of growing food” says Lauren Maples, manager of the partners for education, agriculture, and sustainability (PEAS). These gardens help students understand nature and science in pre-existing school gardens, while letting teachers have a break from planning lessons for rowdy students. Children learn from the gardens, and garden programs should be integrated into the standard curriculum for every school. “I feel like it’s just such a good opportunity to be able to I mean, we focus on science and math, but
there are so many opportunities for all subjects including social studies and looking at food from a historical perspective, or looking at farming and food growing communities from a historical perspective, I definitely think that yes they could be infused [into the curriculum] very easily” Maples says.
what the amount that can be grown in that area are, but for sure there are opportunities to get that food back into the cafeteria or in classes, like to have students actually working to prepare the food and I mean there are definitely lessons to be learned there,” says Maples.
With the Texas curriculum lacking in science education, garden education may be just what the curriculum needs to supplement students’ understanding of nature.
These garden programs could help supplement the nutritional programs and lend good, organic, and fresh fruits and vegetables required by the guidelines of the USDA. These new garden programs could both solve problems with school lunches and with the Texas education program, but they need funding. If the school district could agree to provide funding for PEAS, many problems could be solved and PEAS could improve schools across Texas.
These school gardening education programs are spreading quickly, particularly the Partners for Education, Agriculture, & Sustainability (PEAS) in Austin Texas. “Right now we are working with Cunningham, Zilker, Menchaca, Sunset Valley, Perez, Brooke, we’re just starting next week with Lucy Reid, it’s the pre-k demonstration school, and we are going to start our first after school program at Barrington at the end of February,” Maples says. Soon these programs will be common and widespread, with students at virtually every school learning cooking and gardening skills. Perhaps garden programs could provide the fresh fruits and vegetables that school lunches need. “It’s different from school to school on Gardens could grow a variety of healthy vegetables and fruits. Photo courtesy of pexels.
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Food On
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n The Move
Meals on wheels are here to stay in Austin, Texas By: Aidan Foucher
Trailer Parks and food trucks have become a staple of the food industry in Austin through their easy accessable and creative meals. They give you the chance to go out and eat without actually having to sit down. Nothing fits Austin’s style better than the traditional food truck.
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“We must all live lives surrounded by the people we love, the things that make us happy, and good food.” - E mma Rowland Linder, Thyme Editor