On Monday, April fourteenth, Linsly’s AP Human Geography students took a trip to downtown Wheeling’s Appalachian restaurant. The students sat back in the comfort of chef Matt Welsch’s restaurant, Vagabond Kitchen. His kitchen’s main goal is “handcraft food rooted in the local community.” Chef Matt’s dedication to making food from locally grown resources is why the students came to hear his story. Back in the classroom, Mrs. Martin just wrapped up teaching all about agriculture. Since the students learned many valuable topics from food deserts, to GMOs vs. organic foods, to the hearths of agriculture that developed independently, they got to put their new found knowledge to use. The students were a part of the conversation regarding the issues around freezer to fryer foods that Chef Matt is deeply passionate about. Chef Matt shared his stories about his travels, childhood, and championship on Guy’s Grocery Games. Chef Matt’s childhood and deep connection to the Appalachian Mountains is what inspired his career of serving people modern food integrated with the past.
After introductions between the Linsly students and Chef Matt, he served them one of his all time favorites, Appalachian bean soup. This soup originated from Appalachia when times were hard, so it was made with little to no ingredients, but still was so flavorful. He accompanied the main dish with ginger-lemonade. While the students enjoyed his favorite meal, Chef Matt brought up topics that related to the classroom’s unit on agriculture. He was concerned with the lack of locally grown ingredients in our foods that we consume on a regular basis. Chef Matt spoke about how in the current world, convenience overpowers fresh and nutritious foods that people consume. As a society, people resort to convenience when it comes to our meals which leads to a lack of food literacy. Even if people have the fresh ingredients to make the food, they often do not know how to cook it. Chef Matt also highlighted an important topic the students learned in class, food deserts. This issue can happen in rural or urban areas where there is no source of fresh and nutritious foods for communities to buy. In these areas, there is little access to grocery stores and there is an influx of chain, fast-food restaurants. He mentioned how this is happening all around West Virginia when the only “grocery stores” are Dollar Generals that do not have fresh foods. Chef Matt has not only noticed these issues, but is trying his very best to be a part of the solution. His kitchen cooks up meals with ingredients that are all locally grown, in fact, very few items he uses are not local. Chef Matt has also helped teach young school students how to cook with vegetables and turn them into enjoyable meals. His dedication to his craft is one that is admired by many and can be felt through each meal he makes. Thank you to Mrs. Martin and Chef Matt for giving the geographers an outlet to further explore agriculture through a conversation and a home-made Appalachian dish!
By Reese Maroney
