Hi there! My name is Eddie Garcia. I am the new Kitchen Director at Camp Augusta and I am so very excited to start this new leg of my culinary journey. But I haven’t always been a chef. Before I started working in kitchen and even before I decided to return to school, I worked in Public Health for many, MANY years. I started out as a Psychology major in Boston but half way though school. decided that I wanted to travel. So my sophomore year I applied for a position as a V.I.S.T.A. Volunteer. working for 15 months in Hollywood, CA as a volunteer for the LA Free Clinic and Children’s Hospital working as a program coordinator for programs supporting and educating extremely high-risk, runaway and throwaway youth ages 12-25. After that life changing experience, I spent 7 years residing and working in LA.
Since then, I have returned to school and I have not only changed careers but I have continued traveling.
I have lived and worked in the following areas:
Los Angeles, CA
San Diego, CA
Nantucket, MA
San Juan Island, WA
Orcas, Island WA
Upstate NY, NY
and NOW Nevada City , CA!
I have also continued to work with youth and I have volunteered for two organizations the first being The City School and then THE Move both located in the Boston that have allowed me to teach young adults how to cook and we have also take youth from around the city of Boston on day trips to local farms to meet the farmers but to also harvest food and pick fruits and veggies that we then use to take home or to cook a make a meal onsite at the end of the long day.
If I am not cooking food at work , I am dreaming of food, daydreaming of food and or thinking about what my next meal or snack will be 🙂
I am an avid cyclist and ride around in Boston, just about everywhere except in the case of snow.
Some of my favorite dishes are very simple in ingredients and very simple to prepare and I could eat them every day.
Pancakes. I have been known to eat pancakes for a weeks. Seriously. Pancakes for dinner 7 days a week. In fact, I JUST had pancakes for breakfast 🙂
I love pizza, but I feel I’m not alone in loving pizza. My preference is thin crust with peppers, onions and and sausage. The best pizza I have ever had was in Chicago when I was visiting family there several years ago.
And last but not least, I like anything taco related. Chicken tacos, fish tacos, steak tacos, bean tacos, I do not discriminate. Having lived in Los Angeles and San Diego I have had the pick of some of the best Mexican and Central American food around!
I hope that by now, I have made you hungry and ready to experience some of Camp Augusta’s food. Camp Augusta has a great reputation among camps and I have read many positive comments made by parents, campers and counselors. I am here to relay that the food, meals and culture of sharing meals will continue to be top notch and that we, the kitchen staff will be bringing dishes that cover different cultures, dietary needs and that are healthy and most of all delicious.