As an ex-student and now a teacher at Robert Reynold’s studio, I get to give back everything I learned from Robert. I met my Wednesday and Friday students for the first time yesterday. Three moved to Portland, and enrolling in Robert’s course was the impetus for their moves. Robert joined us at the table on their first evening as students, and he brought France into the room. I brought Oregon (my native home). I remember when I was taking Robert’s course myself two year’s ago and I asked him why he moved to Portland. He said it was because Oregon was more like France then anywhere in the country. I couldn’t agree more.
During class, we talked of the farmers, of the ingredients that constituted the curriculum for our students. The recipe is a vehicle to showcase and imbue technique, however folded within that is the priceless root of the ingredient. Over the next 8 weeks, I am so excited for our students. Not only do they get Robert and France and the phenomenal history of mentorship that has graced his teachings, but they also get the stories and passions of the Studio Family - visiting farms, butchering a pig, gifts of patisserie . . .
In yesterday’s class, three students harked from North Carolina, Massachusetts and Colorado. They truly have a clean slate from which to build upon the “taste of place” which is Oregon translated through a French method. We hold the connectivity, the ties and the cultivation of our food and land together in this beautiful parchment package, a potager times 100. We have commenced! And I will hold this dear over the course of our next 8 weeks together. –Blake Van Roekel
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