The food service industry has been hard hit by coronavirus. Restaurants in states across the country have been forced to cease all but takeout and delivery service. Those not able to make that shift have shuttered, at least for now.
One way to help? Attend a virtual culinary school.
My brother and his wife, Roy and Kat Brown, are both chefs. Like most of their friends—who also work in food service—they are out of work.
Roy and Kat run a popular food truck in Boulder. Called Passport Traveling Eatery, it serves global tapas, or “small bites from around the world.”
Each year in the winter months, Roy and Kat shut down the truck and take off to travel the globe. Conducting food research. Financed by the money they make working on the truck the rest of the year.
Pretty sweet life, eh?
It was. Until coronavirus struck while they were traveling, and they almost got stranded in Taiwan.
They made it back to Boulder just before tightening international borders threatened to make that impossible. Crew outnumbered passengers on their return flight. They had six empty rows on either side of them.
They’d been paying close attention to coronavirus throughout their travels and making the smartest decisions they could at each turn. They decided to return when they did out of fear they might not be able to if they waited any longer.
At that moment, Taiwan’s response to COVID19 made it feel like a much safer place to be than the States. But being trapped away from home indefinitely felt untenable.
They quarantined upon return—at a hotel initially because friends staying in their apartment couldn’t yet move to another location.
In that time, they wrote to the Boulder City Council to propose that food trucks be allowed to serve residential neighborhoods. Under normal regulations, food trucks in Boulder must park and operate in designated food truck and office parks. But all such gathering spaces have been closed through at least the end of April as part of a statewide public health order issued March 16, 2020, to mitigate COVID19 transmission.
With nowhere to operate, food trucks in Boulder and elsewhere have been essentially grounded. Despite being uniquely equipped to help expand access to food for people suddenly stuck at home.
Unfortunately, the Boulder City Council rejected their proposal.
Most of Roy and Kat’s friends—former co-workers during their years working in restaurants—are likewise without work and income.
Some are doing delivery for InstaCart. Some have taken jobs at grocery stores.
None are sick that I know of. Yet. Few have adequate health insurance.
Roy and Kat’s Virtual Culinary School
I’m trying to convince Roy and Kat to start filming cooking videos—a virtual culinary school, if you will—that could run here on the Culinary Therapy channel of Don’t Sum Me Up.
Raise your hand if you’ve ever fantasized about going to culinary school.
Wanna take lessons from my brother and sister-in-law?
They know their stuff, let me tell you.
They both studied culinary arts at the Culinary School of the Rockies (now Auguste Escoffier Culinary Institute of the Arts). Their program was based on classical French cooking techniques with a special focus on farm-to-table practices. They also took part in a five-week externship working at farms, vineyards, and breweries on Colorado’s western slope.
From culinary school, the went on to work in some of Boulder’s finest restaurants. (Including the Kitchen and the Kitchen Upstairs, Flagstaff House, and Black Cat).
Did I mention they travel the world every year learning about new cuisines, ingredients, and techniques?
They’re also cool and fun to hang out with.
I think I might have to sign up for their culinary school. And I’ve already been to culinary school.
You in?
Don’t miss this limited opportunity to enroll in Roy and Kat’s Pop-Up Virtual Culinary School. (Help me show them there’s enough interest to make this worth pursuing.)
