Page 92 - United States of Pie

in the Texas Pie Kitchen, but Jen managed, and the Texas Pie
Kitchen became what it is today.
In its incarnation as a job-training program, the Kitchen runs a six-

month course that teaches its student-bakers the fundamentals of
baking and pastry making, and pairs them with mentors who not only
offer encouragement but also teach them self-reliance. The Kitchen
sells pies to local cafes, caters larger events, and fills special orders,
all while developing the students’ customer service and money
handling skills.
The Austin Resource Center for the Homeless (ARCH), a large
shelter and community center in downtown Austin, houses the Texas

Pie Kitchen’s kitchen. Austin’s main drag, Sixth Street, which is lined
with bars, live music venues, and tequila shacks, is just a few blocks
away. You can only imagine the music and drunken patrons that pour
out these doors on any weekend night. But on the quiet Friday
afternoon I visit, Sixth Street is a ghost town. The doors of ARCH are

locked, but inside, the building is alive with social workers,
volunteers, homeless people, and those citizens who are down on
their luck. I peer through the door, and a no-nonsense but friendly
young woman shoves it open. It’s Jen Biddle. “Adrienne?” she asks,
offering her hand. “Let’s go up to the kitchen.” I follow her up through
the massive center and into a sizable kitchen. It is spotlessly clean,
its stainless-steel surfaces gleaming, but I don’t see any rolling pins,

any sacks of flour or sugar, not even a pie plate. Jen tells me it is
Thursday mornings when this space becomes the Texas Pie Kitchen.
My visit turns out to be a discussion about pie, about community,
and about Austin.
Jen introduces me to Larrick Martin, the first student to complete
the program at the Kitchen and now ARCH’s kitchen manager. An

affable young man, he is eager to talk about the six-month training
program. Larrick found his way to the Kitchen through Austin’s
Housing Authority, one of the programs that the Texas Pie Kitchen
works with. The Housing Authority has similar goals of breaking the
poverty cycle within the city, in its case by offering low-income
citizens affordable housing. Larrick needed a bit of assistance, and
the Kitchen was the perfect vehicle for him. He had always been

interested in cooking—his free time was spent watching the Food