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Patricia Kline
Owner
ipie
March 12, 2013

Photo Credit: Scott R. Kline
http://www.scottrklinephoto.com/

It's our belief that when you work in food, you are working for the greater good, for the greatest cause: the health of the individual, and the health of the planet. Patricia challenges us to aim even higher with a personal motivation to battle Alzheimer's disease with the pies that she bakes. She did it for her own mom, who taught her to bake, and now she's doing it for others. Let her story inspire you to pay it forward.

When did you know that you wanted to work in food?

Although I now live in San Francisco, I grew up in the Midwest, where baking was the language we used to communicate with each other.  When a friend was sick, you baked them a pie.  Need to send a thank you note?  Drop off a coffee cake instead.  Apology required?  Brownies helped smooth the road.

As the youngest of five children, it wasn't always easy for me to get time alone with my busy mom ? especially since she also worked full time.  The best way to get some of her precious time was to bake with her on her rare day off. I became known as the baker in the family thanks to mom's exacting guidance and encouragement.

But in 2005 my mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.  Our first inkling that something was wrong was when she brought purchased, not homemade, cookies to a family gathering.

I began baking pies-seriously baking pies- after my mom fell from her bed in 2009 and was hospitalized with a broken hip. Each night after visiting her in the hospital, I headed to the kitchen, first for a glass of wine, then, for flour, butter and my favorite rolling pin. The trauma from the surgery and the Alzheimer's had reduced my mom's words to a language I no longer understood -- although she spoke with great energy and earnestness, her words had been turned into gibberish. Even over these past few years as her memories faded, I could still bring a smile to her face with a batch of warm chocolate chip cookies or other homemade treat. She didn't eat much anymore but she still smiled back at the stranger that I had become to her offering her goodies.

As I held my high-end silicone clad rolling pin, I thought of my mom's chipped wooden rolling pin. And instead of using the faded pink pie plate that had been hers, I reached for a cupcake pan. I wanted these pies to look different, just as my mom's world seemed different - smaller somehow. My first attempts at putting dough in a muffin pan and filling it with peaches and a bit of ginger were tasty, but not attractive.

Now when I visited my mom in the hospital, I would tell her about my pie experiments.  It seemed to calm her down and I must admit, just talking about it out loud gave me some new ideas to try.

My mom wasn't the only crisis.  The commercial office furniture business my husband and I had owned for more than 15 years was also in failing health due to the faltering economy. After we folded our company, I considered returning to the marketing career I'd had left before my husband and I had joined forces. But I just couldn't recreate the excitement I'd once had for nurturing technology companies.  Instead, I yearned to follow a path that I had only allowed myself a brief glimpse of during my professional career: creating a baking business.

As I dealt with the ill health in my family and in the economy, I found myself preheating the oven more and more. My mom passed away a few months later. Her absence only seemed to increase my interest in my pie experiments, almost as if she wanted me to finish what I had started.

In odd moments I would research pie on the Internet or browse my local bookstore. Soon I was again filling my pie research notebook. I began to focus on perfect cooking times, different fillings, and the perfect crust. I wanted a sturdy dough that wasn't all butter or shortening, yet still flaky and tender. I called my final creation individual pies, or ipies.

How did you get your current good food job?

In the summer of 2009 I contacted my local farmers' market in Palo Alto, in the food-obsessed San Francisco Bay Area.  Many board meetings and taste tests later; they invited me to join the market. After suffering through the food safety exam required by the county, and a hunt for a commercial kitchen, I was in business.

I still sell at this farmers' market.  I also ship my pies, offer pie subscriptions, and bake for special events like weddings and luncheons.  I do several pop-ups a month in San Francisco and will be offering a local SF pick up location soon.

But baking and selling ipies is just one of my good food jobs.  I also will be offering classes soon, not just to teach folks how to make a pie, but also to show them that, as playwright David Mamet said, "stress cannot exist in the presence of a pie."

I'm also really involved with helping California implement the Cottage Food Law that was just signed by Governor Brown into law effective January 1.  This law will allow producers of non-hazardous food products to be able to produce this food in their home kitchens (up to a certain revenue amount) without having to rent an expensive (and hard to find) commercial kitchen.  There is still work to be done before each city/county makes permits available but we are very close to not only giving many folks a much needed source of income, but also bringing people even closer to the person that actually makes their food.  And that can only be a good thing!

How did your previous work or life experience prepare you for a good food job?

I truly feel that my marketing, public relations and operations experience all help me pursue my passion for pastry.

I have run several businesses so I have a strong entrepreneurial bent that served me well in starting yet another business.  I'm a very persistent person coupled with my other strengths of a love of learning and creativity that kept me going when I started to get bogged down in red tape or when I lost yet another commercial kitchen!

What was the greatest obstacle you had to overcome in pursuing your Good Food Job dream?

I think one of the biggest obstacles was in first finding then keeping a commercial kitchen.  That is one of the reasons I was so passionate about becoming involved in helping the Cottage Food Law pass in California.

I was forced several times to cease production for months at a time after the loss of yet another kitchen but I was persistent and eventually found another place to hang my apron.

Also, I think the fact that I was committed to donating part of the proceeds from ipie sales to the Alzheimer's Association motivated me to keep pressing forward, no matter what obstacles I faced. Often customers will tell me the story of how their lives were affected by Alzheimer's disease.  I'm touched that they want to share their stories with me.

What can you identify as the greatest opportunities in food right now?

Pass more Cottage Food Laws!  I think one of the opportunities is in continuing to create that connection between the consumer and the artisan food producer. There continues to be such an interest in homemade and locally produced food.  Cottage food laws will create even more diversity and creativity in food offerings.

If you could be compensated for your work with something other than money, what would it be?

A treatment and cure for Alzheimer's disease.

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