- August 31st, 2017
- Comments Off on People of Southport: Hunter
Hunter has been our Retail and Bakery assistant for a little over 7 months now. No two days are ever the same as he does so many different things and that’s a big part of what made him want the position. He keeps himself busy by helping the bakers, prepping and packaging house made products, putting together gift baskets, assisting our Preservationist, helping the kitchen with big catering orders, keeping the grocery in order, tending to our rooftop herb garden and diligently helping to eat misshapen biscuits. What a trooper 🙂
He’s an artist by trade and it really shows in his work. Everything looks a little bit nicer when Hunter is involved! After graduating from the Art Institute of Chicago with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, he took a little foray into the food industry, working as a line cook for a year. He also cooked a lot with his parents growing up, even making home made pasta and learning how to can veggies with his Grandma. She grew up on farmland that has been owned by the family for generations, so canning was super important to make the most of all their crops. The preservation part of Southport Grocery is what really caught Hunter’s eye and he really loves helping our preservationist Tracey out with the whole process: “I love that I get to hop around from one part of the business to another and learn so much from people who are really skilled at what they do.” He’s gotten really into baking bread recently and used our bakery’s starter to get him going on his sourdough adventure.
Hunter loves to cook and his Arkansas roots shine through at home: “It’s a pretty Southern affair in my kitchen, with shrimp & grits, fried chicken, corn bread & big pots of soup in the Winter” At work, he loves Terri‘s biscuits, bread pudding pancakes & the chicken salad made by Caron – he has the special touch!
When he’s not at Southport Grocery, Hunter can be found working in his studio, focusing on sculpture and drawings. He loves to make dinner for friends, read, wander around the city & see great art. Some local favorites are the Renaissance Society, Roots & Culture, Sector 2337, the Poetry Center of Chicago & the Graham Foundation. “Chicago is an awesome city for art – it’s relatively small, sustainable and has a great tight knit community.” His long term goal is to go back to school, get his Master of Fine Arts and eventually teach. Among many other life ambitions is learning to make brie & goat cheese.
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