Slow down, connect, and create—discover the joy of handmade food, timeless traditions, and the stories woven into every bite.
By Lauren Hambleton
“Feel the flour as you’re rubbing it between your palms. How soft, and cool, and powdery it is. Smell the dough at every step in the process. Use your eyes to take note of how your ingredients are transforming. Taste it if you’re feeling brave.”
These are some of the cues I give my students during workshops on everything from sourdough to pies, bagels, and pasta. “Wow, this is so meditative,” someone often says with quiet excitement. A meditation in slowing down and choosing quality over quantity.
On a weekly basis, I welcome people into my studio for food experiences that involve learning new skills, honing old ones, making friends with strangers, and working with the simplest of ingredients to create delicious treats. When students walk into the studio, the stress of day-to-day life gets put on the back burner. They pour themselves a hot coffee to sip throughout the morning, and we dive into the recipes.
From the minute we get started to when everyone packs up to go home, we are fully immersed with all of our senses. Being involved in a project or a recipe this way—slowing down, opting for your hands instead of the machine—forces you to focus your attention on the task at hand, rather than the long list of to-dos in your notes app.
More often than not, our society rewards you for doing more, more, more. In a modern world that is full to the brim with hustle and bustle, the desire to go back to the basics and prioritize quality over quantity has been bubbling up for a while now. A resistance to the status quo. A desire to slow down, live a little bit more in the present moment, and get creative while connecting with others.
“Where can I buy this flour? Can I have a mill like that in my kitchen? Wow, that wheat is so pretty, I’m going to plant some in my garden! I’m thinking of getting a cow so I can make my own cheese with fresh milk.” These are just some of the questions and conversations I overhear when people are attending a workshop, conversing with each other over their love of food. There is a palpable growing interest in knowing the whole story and being a part of it.
During the height of the pandemic, people were stuck in their own kitchens, making their own food when they may not have otherwise. And so as much as the concept of going back to the basics isn’t a new one at all, cooking from scratch with an emphasis on premium, local ingredients has been gaining momentum ever since.
The needs of the modern-day maker and baker, forager, and brewer are certainly different from those of previous eras, but for as long as humankind has walked the earth, we’ve been creating things with our hands. And for just as long, we’ve needed and wanted the human connection to our food: a person and a story to tie us back to the ingredients in a recipe.
People are intrigued, now more than ever, by wholesome hobbies that allow them to make these connections. And small businesses ranging in offerings from freshly milled flour to organic goat cheese are rising up to meet the demands of the curious population. Flourishing like their own sustainable ecosystem.
The growing interest in local artisanal products is having a positive trickle-down effect within communities. Businesses are expanding as consumers seek goods that are not only fresher but also grown or prepared with care by someone they know, near the same land they call home.
Farmers’ Markets are busier than ever as hot spots for connections and bridging the gap between producer and consumer. Subscription boxes are also increasing in interest, with the option to order specialty items, such as a curated coffee collection with tasting notes, right to your door. The direct exchange between producers and consumers is fostering a deeper understanding of the food system and helping to strengthen the bonds between people and their food.
A story. To the past, or at least to the past of the grain, grown by the farmer, turned into a delicious loaf of bread by the baker, and enjoyed by you with friends and family. A story that more deeply connects us to traditional methods using artisanal ingredients. It’s what we’re all after.
Lauren Hambleton of Red Hen Artisanale offers hands-on baking workshops and cooking classes from a bright, welcoming studio in the heart of Grey County. She provides a relaxing space to connect with others while learning new skills and being guided through the fundamentals of recipes.
For a list of available workshops, head to redhenartisanale.com.
Images courtesy Jessica Crandlemire – Light and Shadow Photo