Fred sat with Kate Hill following the final dinner at Pigstock 2016 at the Haggerty Center in Traverse City, Michigan this October.  Kate shares how she came to teach people at Kitchen at Camont in Gascony, France, as well as traveling the world to share her passion. 

The Details

The Drinks: New Holland’s, The Poet

The Music: “Wealthy Street” on intro and outro, © and courtesy of Drew Nelson

Guest Bio:

Kate Hill, a published author and professional cook of 30 years, founded Camont as a cooking school and retreat in 1991 after moving to this fruitful spot in France from the US. Camont became a place to rethink ideas about food and cooking and Kate is a willingly mentor, coach and teacher. Here, we grow and buy seasonal produce from local farmers and make great Gascon food to share in the old stone kitchen.

Our programs have grown from Kate’s relationships with Gascony’s thriving food community – particularly its farmstead butchers, and now you, too, can work with them to learn how to break down a pig and cure your own charcuterie. This work has placed Kate at the forefront of the global nose-to-tail butchery movement organizing international workshops with French farmer/butcher Dominique Chapolard and founder of Grrls Meat Camp.

Kate teaches and consults with professionals like Michael Ruhlman for Conde Nast Traveler, the BBC’s French Odyssey series with chef Rick Stein, which was filmed in Camont’s wonderful kitchen and International restaurant groups. Kate’s work has also been featured in Food & Wine, Bon Appétit, Dish, Appellation and Maison Sud Ouest magazines, as well as the New York Times, the LA Times, London Times and the Boston Globe. On line she write the Food Stories from Gascony here, as well as serve as a administrator to the very popular facebook group- the Salt Cured Pig. When not working virtually, Kate welcomes students to Camont with her giant farm dog Bacon, a trio of barn cats, a dozen chickens, a flockette of ducks – and whoever else happens to be stopping by.