[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 87 (Tuesday, June 2, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3451-S3452]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
GEORGE SCHENK, CELEBRATING 30 YEARS OF FLATBREAD
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I wish to recognize George Schenk, founder
of one of Vermont's most beloved restaurants, American Flatbread.
Thirty years ago, American Flatbread was built from the ground up,
driven by George's own enthusiasm, innovation, and drive. He baked his
first pizza--flatbread as he prefers to call it--in a wood-fired stone
oven of his own design. Today, American Flatbread still bakes its
creations in the same stone ovens.
George started with a vision where his food was not just great
tasting and nutritional, but also nurturing and healing the soul. He
accomplished that and so much more. Anyone who has sat down at American
Flatbread after a long day hiking, skiing or even just to visit
understands the satisfaction of eating at George's restaurant. He and
his staff maintain a commitment to the core values of the integrity of
a meal, using organic and locally sourced ingredients, including those
grown in a greenhouse next door. George cultivates these ingredients to
deliver on his promise of ``good, flavorful, nutritious food that gives
both joy and health.''
American Flatbread also reflects the best of Vermont's community
traditions--caring for one another. Food is often given to help local
hospitals and families in need, and those same citizens give back when
they can. Like many Vermont towns, Waitsfield was devastated by
Tropical Storm Irene, and among the damaged businesses was American
Flatbread. Despite the damage, they were able to reopen in just a few
short days thanks to the work of hundreds of local volunteers in both
their time and in donations.
Since the fire was lit in that first stone oven, George has stayed
true to his vision of a sustainable and community-oriented business,
one that has flourished while calling Vermont its home. In honor of
American Flatbread turning 30, I ask unanimous consent to have printed
in the Record Sally Pollak's story from the May 28, 2015, edition of
the Burlington Free Press.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
[From the Burlington Free Press, May 28, 2015]
American Flatbread Turns 30, Throws Community Party
Waitsfield.--Thirty years ago in his side yard in Warren,
George Schenk made a pizza in his wood-fired field stone
oven.
The toppings were simple: olive oil, garlic, Parmesan and
herbs from his garden.
``I didn't know if it was going to stick to the rock,''
Schenk said. ``I didn't know if it was going to bake. The
oven had no door.''
Two couples who were hanging out drinking wine shared that
pizza, or flatbread in Schenk vernacular.
Their response was like a wave at a football stadium on a
smaller scale, Schenk said. Smiles moved from face to face.
``We just thought it was great,'' said Lyndon Virkler, dean
of education at New England Culinary Institute, who was one
of the original flatbread eaters. ``Because of the nice hot
rock it had a nice, crisp crust. And real simple, pure
flavors.''
What was meant to be a side dish became the ``highlight of
the evening,'' Virkler said. He had met Schenk--a ski bum--
five years earlier in the kitchen at Sam Rupert's, a Warren
restaurant. Virkler was chef and Schenk was a salad maker
with creativity and drive, Virkler said.
``We've often reflected on our place in history,'' Virkler
said. ``My wife and I being able to sample the first
flatbread.''
Schenk knew that night 30 years ago he had made something
he and other people enjoyed eating. Beyond that, he found
something that was gratifying to make: from building the oven
to splitting wood and making a fire to kneading the dough.
``I was looking for a professional cooking opportunity that
felt right,'' Schenk said. ``Not necessarily being on a line
behind closed doors.''
Schenk's pizza--American Flatbread--has been around ever
since: never behind closed doors and often outside. It
started once a week at Tucker Hill Inn before Schenck opened
American Flatbread at Lareau Farm in Waitsfield in 1992. That
restaurant spawned a dozen American Flatbreads in New
England, one in Hawaii and one in British Columbia.
American Flatbread will be available to all next Saturday,
when Schenk celebrates 30 years of flatbread with free pizza
and salad at his Waitsfield restaurant. Bigger than the
birthday party, the event is to recognize community members
who give to their communities in a variety of ways, he said.
``It's the whole range of human experience,'' Schenk said,
listing the spheres of people and organizations he intends to
honor: religious, local government, volunteer fire and
ambulance personnel, people who serve seniors and the ill and
injured, those who are involved in the arts and work to
protect the environment.
``Here in this small valley there are 54 registered
nonprofits,'' Schenk said.
Schenk spoke of the help his business received after two
floods--in 1998 and 2011--damaged the restaurant and grounds
at Lareau Farm, site of American Flatbread.
``Over 400 peopled helped us dig out,'' Schenk said.
``People donated tractors, cleaned firewood, mucked out the
basement and moved debris. In the absence of that help, this
little business would have failed.''
Money also was donated, including a $25,000 interest-free
loan.
``People get really squirrely about money,'' Schenk said.
But this loan was without that kind of attitude. The check
came with a post-it note that read: ``Thinking of you.'' When
Schenk repaid his last loan installment of $1,000, the check
was returned uncashed, he said.
[[Page S3452]]
``In various iterations that story repeated itself over and
over,'' Schenk said. ``With acts of profound kindness, at a
time of need and loss.''
The celebration next Saturday is to do something ``nice,''
Schenk said--choosing with care a word an English teacher
advised him long ago to stay away from.
Words with a side of pizza
Words matter to Schenk. Over the years they have achieved a
place of importance in his business.
The restaurant in Waitsfield has gardens that grow food for
flatbreads and salad, a campfire on the stone patio, and
banners printed with Schenk's writings on food, family,
community, philosophy, and social issues.
His compositions, which he calls ``dedications,'' appear in
the menus at American Flatbread. Schenck has written more
than 1,400 over the past 28 years.
``I have often felt as though if I didn't write, the
flatbread wasn't complete, it wasn't as good,'' Schenk said.
``Maybe in truth, I was not as good or complete. It provided
an internal discipline that I needed.''
In his semi-retirement, Schenk, 62, is reading through the
archive of his dedications with plans to publish them in a
book.
Reading through his dedications, the ones that emerge as
most meaningful to him are about his family and the time he
spent raising his two children, now grown, Schenk said.
``I'm acutely aware that those days and events are past and
will never come again,'' Schenk said. ``The dedications
captured something about their childhoods and my experiences
that I wouldn't otherwise have.''
A dedication called ``The Family Bed'' is on the porch at
American Flatbread.
It reads in part:
``We are together. Laughing and talking, getting ready for
bed. 'Read to me first,' cries Willis who is three. I look at
Hanna, half grown at eight years, she looks back at me with
patience. `Pick out your books and jump into bed, I'll be
with you in just a minute.' (I go downstairs and fill the old
stove with big chunks of wood. It is cold for April.) I hop
back up, two stairs at a time, and join them in the big
bed.''
Nearby is a dedication titled ``Children and the Kitchen.''
Schenk wrote:
``Children have a natural curiosity about the goings on in
a kitchen. It is important to nurture this curiosity so that
they have as their own the skills and care of good cooking.
Almost all food work, from the garden to washing dishes,
including knife-work, is child-friendly.''
Dreaming in the dirt
The garden is where Schenk prefers to spend time these
days. He has a plot in the staff garden at Flatbread, and he
works in a greenhouse at Lareau Farm.
Schenk loves the physical activity of gardening, and being
outside in sunlight and fresh air. He has a particular
interest in the nutrient content of the soil, and values the
way garden work helps produce food that is ``nutrient dense''
and rich in flavor, Schenk said.
``There's a kind of psychological peace and health that
comes with the work,'' he said. ``Our palates really can
guide us to health affirming food.''
He has built in his garden a structure he calls a ``soil
invertebrate condominium.''
Soil invertebrates, insects and worms, stimulate soil
bacteria, which improve the biology and chemistry of the
soil. The creatures also aerate the soil, and help with pest
control, Schenk said. They allow Schenk to play in the dirt,
and peek into that ``magic place'' where they live.
``I've come to take an enormous amount of happiness from
this work, and peace,'' Schenk said last week in his garden.
``As I become older, that peace and well being has become
something that I value greatly. My goal wasn't to go out and
create a pizza empire. It was to have a healthy and happy
life.''
He sold his restaurant development group a few years ago,
and now works as a Flatbread consultant. Thursday, he trucked
buckets of clay gathered at Lareau Farm and sapling alders
from a swamp in Roxbury to Rockport, Maine, to build an oven
for a new American Flatbread restaurant.
``It was about letting go of my ego,'' Schenk said of his
selling the development group. ``When we idealize the
American corporate dream and growth, that's what we see and
hold up as a model of success.
``I got caught up in someone else's dream. As I grew, I
came to realize that it wasn't my dream.''
Schenk dreams in the dirt these days, a place he hopes is
teeming with activity.
``Systems that are more complex tend to be more stable,''
he said. ``It's stability that we're looking for in our
lives.''
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