Terra Madre Delegate Profile -
Kurt Friese,
Restaurateur, Iowa

"Iowa City restaurateur Kurt Friese has a vision for improving the quality of education in area schools - one cabbage, carrot, and cucumber at a time" reports the Daily Iowan.

Friese, head chef of the Iowa City restaurant Devotay, is spearheading a project titled From the Ground Up. The initiative seeks to incorporate vegetable gardens at all Iowa City schools as a learning tool for students and teachers.

In addition to his leadership roles in Iowa schools and the Devotay kitchen, Kurt also has 3 regular columns in local newspapers (The Cedar Rapids Gazette - Cooking Class; The Iowa City Press-Citizen - Table Wine; and The Little Village - It's About the Food) and a forthcoming book Slow Food in the Heartland: A Cook's Tour, to be published later this year by UI Press.

Devotay began in 1994, with the help of a $700 loan from Kurt's mother, producing spices and oils for local farmers' markets. As the business gained momentum a storefront operation was added selling not just those oils and spices, but all sorts of gourmet food items. When customers started requesting catering, Devotay obliged. It didn't take much longer for customers to become more interested in the food Chef Kurt was making than they were in the groceries on the shelves. Soon they were requesting take-out sandwiches, then tables, and thus a restaurant emerged from a gourmet shop.

Today Devotay offers a full menu, based on the flavors of the Mediterranean, with occasional influences from other ethnic cuisines. There is a complete wine and beer list, and all of it changes according to the market and the seasons.

All the plates, bowls and mugs are made by Iowa City native and Devotay co-owner Kim Friese. Kim has been a professional potter for 10 years and she and Kurt have been married for 19 years. They have 2 children, Devon and Taylor (hence the name Devotay). Now that Chef Kurt is pursuing his writing career, Kim is in full command of the restaurant.

Kurt's experience in the restaurant world is ultimately what led him to his current work in schools. He claims that he first gained an appreciation for growing and using his own fresh ingredients during culinary school. After searching for other professionals nationwide who were doing the same, he came across the work of Alice Waters, the renowned chef at Chez Panisse in Berkeley, Calif., and founder of the Edible School Yard at Martin Luther King Jr. School.

Although there are a number of schools across Iowa with gardens, Kurt's proposed garden project would be integrated into the entire school curriculum. "You really see the smile on kids' faces when they bite into a tomato they've just harvested," said Friese, "There's nothing taught in school that can't be taught in a garden."

Compiled by Rachel Joynes