Jamie Eisenberg
Jamie Eisenberg didn't plan on a culinary life. She received her Bachelor's of Fine Arts at the Rhode Island School of Design for printmaking. Her start was pretty typical - washing dishes to make some extra money while she was at school. When a dishwashing job opened up at a place where some friends were working, she joined them. It didn't take long before this dishwasher with a BFA was helping on the line. Within six months, Jamie was the sous chef. She really enjoyed the lifestyle of food service.
A couple of years later, Jamie was getting restless. Her family was bugging her about her degree in Fine Arts and wondering why she wasn't doing what she'd gone to school for, and "slinging quiche for a living." But she enjoyed working at the restaurants, and when she saw an ad for NECI in the back of Gourmet Magazine, the idea of going to school in Vermont was very appealing.
Jamie decided to apply as an advanced placement student. The day of her test was memorable. She showed up at Tubbs to take the test under Chef Michel LeBorgne. But Tubbs had lost power the night before and the kitchen was a disaster. Nothing was cleaned up from the dinner service and nothing was prepped for the next day. Chef Michel took one look at her, handed her some ingredients and told her to make some soup and the "family meal" while the rest of the staff raced around to clean up. Her lunch was deemed "good" and she was in.
Starting as a second year student was difficult. Jamie shares that she wishes she had done two full years at NECI as this would have made her a more well rounded student. But Jamie was there during NECI's heyday, working under unbelievable chefs, listening, studying and learning as much as she could. After graduating from NECI, Jamie returned to Panache where she had worked in Rhode Island and was soon their executive chef.
It took just a few years for Jamie to get restless again. Howard Fisher had kept in touch and let Jamie know that if she was interested in teaching at NECI, he'd love to have her back. By 1991, Jamie was ready to make another move, and soon she was up in Essex as a relief instructor. Things really clicked for Jamie at NECI. She worked hard to become a good chef instructor, taking advantage of the wonderful community of chefs already at NECI. Teaching made sense to her and she knew she had things to share with the students.
Jamie remembers that President Fran Voigt always sat down with the new instructors and asked them "what extra curricular activity can you contribute to the NECI community?" She knew immediately that she wanted to work with the students to understand substance abuse issues in the culinary world and to help and counsel students in need. Jamie is a recovering alcoholic (20 years of continuous sobriety) and these issues were important to her and how she managed her life. Immediately, she started to share her story with every single class she taught at NECI. This was incredibly rewarding as students reached out to her for help. Jamie conducted meetings on campus at times and made sure there was an awareness of the issues surrounding substance abuse. She knows that she made a difference.
Jamie was at NECI for nine years, longer than she'd been anywhere before. She'd managed to change roles every few years so her usual sense of restlessness after three years hadn't cropped up, but by 2000 she knew it was time to move on. And she wasn't quite sure she wanted to stay in food service.
So she took some time off to test the waters. While doing a variety of jobs, Jamie took advantage of an entrepreneurial program for women in small business and learned all about starting her own business. Though she loved crafting a new business she soon realized she wasn't destined to make a living as a pet sitter!
When City Market in Burlington, Vermont was looking to open their new downtown store, they asked Jamie to apply for the Prepared Foods Manager job. She quickly learned that this was much more than running the deli counter. Jamie helped to open the store, set up programs and made the department stable and profitable. And then she got antsy again. A similar position at the local health food grocery store opened up and they really needed Jamie's help. Again, she found herself opening up a new grocery store as the Prepared Foods Manager. Jamie was now fully immersed in the grocery world.
In January 2009, Jamie received a call from management. The country's financial crisis had reached the store and they had to let her go. It came out of the blue and Jamie was in shock. But being unemployed wasn't going to be the end of her world. Jamie took the time to re-evaluate her values. The work at the two grocery stores was very stressful. She had managed staffs of over 40 employees, had to work with unions at one location and with a small family at the other. And she realized she hadn't really cooked in years.
So she found a temporary job cooking at a small restaurant that needed help getting organized. The work was grounding and satisfying. While there, Jamie realized that she wanted to go back to teaching. She had so many more skills to bring to her students. As she thought about it she knew that she wanted to teach to a population that really needs the job skills. Perhaps the developmentally disabled? Substance abuse population? Refugees or low income Vermonters?
Literally a day after she formulated these thoughts in her mind she heard about a position as the assistant chef instructor for low income Vermonters at the Community Kitchen, part of a national program based at the Chittenden County Food Shelf. Interestingly enough, Jamie soon learned that NECI and her old ally, Howard Fisher, had strong ties to the Community Kitchen. Jamie felt like she was home again.
Jamie has only been working at the Community Kitchen for eight weeks. The Community Kitchen program is a 14 week program for low income Vermonters that teaches job skills for entry level positions in the industry. Nearly every Vermonter who graduates from the program finds work within the industry. The Community Kitchen students learn to take food that has been donated by local restaurants and grocery stores and turn it into quality food that goes back to the community. Meals are prepared for the soup kitchen as well as distributed through the food shelf. Jamie's goal is to improve the quality of the food, changing the meals to make sure they contain significant meats and proteins that will better serve the population.
Though Jamie has found her new niche, being an entrepreneur is still in her blood. Last winter, as she struggled to figure out what was next, she and her partner started to bake pies and put them out on the street for people to purchase. Soon "Poorhouse Pies" was born! They refurbished an old garden shed in the front yard, made a few signs that say "Pie Today!" to put out on the road, and using the honor system, folks can now pull up to the shed, leave some money and take a pie. Jamie says they are selling up to 50 pies a weekend! Knowing that they will not be able to stock the pie shed during the winter, Jamie and her partner are hoping to sell retail to local grocery stores, and of course, take special orders for the holidays.
It's amazing to Jamie what a tight circle her culinary world is. The woman who taught her small business class works in the next office to the Community Kitchen. Those classes gave her the knowledge and confidence to start Poorhouse Pies. The grocery stores where she used to work contribute their leftover foods to the Food Shelf where she and her students transform them into hot and healthy meals. And she still works with NECI students who choose to do their community service projects at the Food Shelf. What a wonderful circle to be in!