As one of the newer faces to the Stonyfield Staff, I quickly discovered a universal truth in this yogurtland…we love good food. We love finding it, we love making it, we love talking about it, and we love sharing it.
It\’s the Stonyfield Staff! Just kidding, but it is one of my favorite family photos. My Great Grandmother, Grandfather, Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins enjoying what was surely a well-prepared and much-enjoyed Syrian meal.
Here’s a wee glimpse into Stonyfield HQ: The abundance of this season’s cucumber harvest has overwrought our workspaces with mason jars of bread and butter, dill, and brined pickles –often from a mystery gifter. The discovery of a new, organic, 60% cacoa bar is reason enough to celebrate on a Tuesday afternoon. Baby and bridal showers are executed with a flurry of food-sharing on a table donned in recycled yogurt cup flowers. Our office book club consists of titles like Tomatoland, and Farmer Roger from Middle Branch Farm delivers beautiful and abundant organic produce to our office on Thursdays. Many of us dice an onion faster than most can butter toast. Do we love all that is good and organic because we work at Stonyfield, or do we work at Stonyfield because we love all that is good and organic? I’ll leave that self-analysis for a future blog post…
It’s my hope to use my Buzz Blog posts to introduce you to our “Fooding” culture here at Stonyfield. It exists on all different levels. Many of us are novices to cooking. Many of us have worked as restaurant chefs. Many of us simply love sharing healthy, wholesome meals with our family and friends. We’re always talking about and discovering delicious, organic things, and I’d like to pass these on to you in hopes that you, our organic yogurt loving friends, will share your Fooding experiences with us too!
I’ll be profiling staff, sharing recipes, reporting on events, dinner parties, farmers markets, or even how I found the best blueberry muffin in New England (this is my not-so-secret dream. It will happen!).
Fooding [food-ing ] noun. – the art of cooking and/or eating. A contraction of the word “food” and “feeling”.
Over the course of these Buzz Blog posts, I’m sure you’ll get a good glimpse into my approach to food, but for the sake of expediting the basics, I’ll interview myself quickly, much in the style that you’ll hear from other Stonyfield employees and friends in coming months:
So Jesse, how did you start loving food?
Dad’s a Maine lobsterman and Mom an incredible cook and occasional caterer, so my brother and I were spoiled from the get-go. But, with the sweet comes the sour. I was peeling carrots, crying over heaps of diced vidalias, scrubbing and putting away layers of dishes, and learning 101 uses for a tea towel while most of my friends were still told, “Kids, out of the kitchen.” Creating good food took time and work and I loved it. My parent’s pantry, stove, oven, knives, countertops and copper pots will always be the best of the best to me.
Who’s your favorite person to cook with?
My Mom. And my Grandmother. And Aunts and Uncles. And my brother. And my darling foodie friends. Oh and a couple of cousins, too. Basically anyone who loves to be hands-on in the kitchen.
What’s your favorite meal to make?
I’m a traditionalist, but terrible at sticking to the recipe. That’s why I love making some of my great grandmother’s Syrian dishes. Chicken and Rice, Kibbi, Tabouli, Dolma, Hummus. Mediterranean food always makes me think of my family, and the freshness and quality of base ingredients allows room for creativity. Plus Mediterranean dishes usually involve seafood, which is awesome.
Do you use yogurt when cooking?
Absolutely, but (so much) more on that in later posts. In the meantime, who’s your favorite person to create and enjoy food with? Comment here and who knows, maybe you’ll be the next Stonyfielder I get to interview!
Chat again so soon-
Jess
One of my favorite people to create good food with would be my daughter, Stonyfield Jesse. Love that both my kids are foodies and many of their friends, too. The picture posted reflects my family’s love of each other, and the food that gathers them together. Like so many ethnic families, food is central to that gathering. Although that photo was taken looong before I was born (I think my father was about 10) and in Placedas, Cuba, the tradition of mugging for the camera with food is still practiced at our many family get-togethers. And yes, we use yogurt (Stonyfield, of course!) in a lot of our dishes.