“The biggest compliment for me was when someone said that the food I made reminded them of home. I’d hear chatter in the hallways leading to the cafeteria about how it smelled like their childhood home, that the food reminded them of how their mom or grandma cooked. There were no frills – no fancy garnish, no expensive ingredients, no flash. But in those pans I put my respect for the community that I was working with, and the honor to have the opportunity to serve the dedicated people who served our guests all week long.”
ServingsMakes one 4.5 kg (10 pound) meatloaf to serve a crew
Ben Hasty, a graduate of the Atlantic Culinary Academy in Dover, New Hampshire, was just 20 when he started his externship with Thomas Keller at the influential Napa Valley, California, restaurant The French Laundry. He went on to work at other highly-acclaimed restaurants in New Hampshire, Maine, and Boston. He is now Executive Chef at the Atlantic Grill in Rye, New Hampshire. Hasty’s focus is using the bounty of seasonal local ingredients, including from his family farm, Breezy Hill.