Heinz Thomet of Next Step Produce, ever deep in thought
What, you may wonder, is Kiko doing when not producing Lunch Agenda? I am the Director of Breaducation at Seylou Bakery & Mill, which opened last year in DC's Blagden Alley. Since joining their team, I’ve learned about grain and baking with levain to help our guests understand Seylou’s approach.
So this week, I spoke with Heinz Thomet, a stalwart producer of grains for Seylou. Through growing and milling wheat, millet, rye and other crops, Heinz is committed to replenishing the soil and mitigating global warming. We also heard from David Killilea, scientist who researches the nutritional content of flour sold at supermarkets these days. David made a compelling argument for how available minerals, vitamins, and microbiome-boosting compounds are in a simple kernel of wheat, when it's unsifted and untreated.
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Hungry for more breaducation? Here's how you can dig deeper:
Next Step Produce is Heinz's farm, located an hour from DC in Newburg, MD. If you want to eat the grains, beans and produce Heinz and his family grow, he sells his flour to chefs around the District. You can find it at Spike Gjerde's restaurant A Rake's Progress, of course at Seylou Bakery, and more.
Priority One is the book Heinz sites about how farmers can "beat global warming".
The Rodale Institute is the pioneering organization leading America's regenerative organic farming movement.
David Killilea’s soon-to-be published research will be available on the Community Grains website as well as his own research site.
Heinz's action item:
For farmers:
“If we farmers, who farm 7% of land on this earth, increase the average organic matter content on our own land by just 1.6%, we will reverse global warming.”
For urbanites:
"Inform yourself. Ask yourself what are people for, and live accordingly."
David's action item:
"I often call the wheat kernel a superfood...There's this feeling a superfood is a special berry growing on the banks of the Amazon that you have to be wealthy to afford. The reality is we have access to a superfood all the time through whole wheat flour."
Kiko's Food News headlines:
World's first plastic-free aisle opens in Netherlands supermarket
New maps reveal global fishing’s vast exploitation of the oceans