Culinary Arts Museum

Last night, I went to the Johnson & Wales University Culinary Museum for a one hour slide show and lecture called "Bread from Fire" given by my former bread instructor, Richard Miscovich.

First, let me say, that it was nice to be back on campus if only for such a short time. It's been almost a year since classes ended and I believe I felt rather nostalgic amongst the students and uniforms. Second, I thoroughly enjoyed hearing about the history of wood fired ovens and viewing the slides. I walked away from the lecture wishing I owned my own property so I could put a small oven out back. My apartment ovens work fine, but I rarely make bread in them because it's just not the same as a big commercial deck oven with steam or, imagine, your own wood fired oven.

One woman wanted to know why you would essentially go to all the trouble of building and heating a wood fired oven rather than just use a standard deck oven. To answer, Richard felt that the bread baked in a wood fired oven had a different and unique quality to it. He also expressed a deep appreciation of carrying on a tradition started hundreds of years ago, as well as how baking in wood fire ovens can build community. There were photos of his neighbor's children making pizzas that were really wonderful. I think the audience would agree that we could all visualize him (and other such bakers) in the pitch black heating their ovens at odd hours of the night, caring for the fires, and creating loaves of bread that are truly works of art.

Click here if you would like to read the interview I did with Richard Miscovich last year.

And, finally, if you visit Providence and love all things culinary, do visit the Culinary Museum at Johnson & Wales University. It's one of the first things I did when I moved here. You can view decorative cakes and historical tools and ovens, as well as visit the section on diners (which I absolutely love).