In 2004 Steve was asked to make a presentation at Terra Madre. “What am I going to have to say to them?” he asked himself. “I am from a privileged, highly educated and technological environment, where people are free to decide to become either a doctor or an urban gardener, or an artisanal baker, say. I settled on trying to point out that our experience here in the US (i.e. industrial, commercialized production) wasn’t what people should imagine as an example for the future, and that the future was going to be characterized by having to make do with what’s close to you, without using a lot of resources. I said that if people were jealous of big operations and were longing to emulate them, they should instead hold on to their traditions and their networks, because the future will favor them, and not big industrial production–the American model. It actually turned out to be prophetic.”

Artisanal bread baking is alive and well around the country, and especially in the Bay area. The Fresh Bread pavilion will include rustic sourdoughs, baguettes, focaccia, wood-fired pizza and Indian-style tandoor breads baked on-site by acclaimed local and national bakers. The team will include Steve as well as Rohit Singh, chef/owner of Breads of India in Berkeley; Charlie Hallowell of Pizzaiolo; Joel Baecker of Joel Baecker Catering in Petaluma; Nico Monday, cook at Chez Panisse; Clark Staub, creator of Full of Life Flatbreads; bakers from Amy’s Breads and Balthazar, in New York City; Turtle Bread in Minnesota; Zingerman’s Deli in Michigan; and many more. Don’t miss the chance to break bread with some of the finest bakeries in the country.

Photos by Aya Brackett