[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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