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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (May 21, 2020)
Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian Chris Holen prepares to make brioche buns fi lled with devils club shoots, oyster mushrooms, spruce buds and spring onions from Forage and Farm for his next video. Continued from Page 4 his information again. Finally, he gets to fi lming. After fi lming, he edits the video, which takes between eight and 10 hours on average, he said. “The value in this is being able to learn more about an ingredient but also being able to share this with people. It might inspire them to cook different foods, to get out of their house, to create their own video, to do something,” Holen said. Aside from having a videographer the fi rst couple videos, and a couple guest appearances, Holen has fi lmed, directed and edited the videos on his own. Cooking during a pandemic “At the end of the day I’m putting myself out there and it keeps things a bit normal. It’s my current normal,” Holen said. “The silver lining is we’ve made tons of food at home, we’ve cooked together as a family and this has helped us decide what to grow in our garden this year.” On the fl ipside, the videos have kept Holen busy while he’s been in limbo wait- ing to reopen his restaurant. Since closing the restaurant, Holen hasn’t received any revenue, he said. “I’m in essence unemployed,” Holen said. “I’m trying to keep it simple by not buying anything. I think I’ve spent $80 total. When I say, ‘This video is brought to you by,’ they didn’t pay for it. This is about how I can help other people … I don’t expect anything in return.” Creating the videos has given Holen a chance to consider other ways he can stay connected to cooking, like teaching classes, creating videos or writing books. “We’re in the least sustainable business there is right now. We’ll be OK for a few months but I have no idea what’s going to happen,” Holen said. “Opposed to getting worked up about it, it’s an opportunity to think outside the box and recognize that things will likely never be as they were and what does that look like.” Interested in learning how to cook? Holen suggests starting with his videos on making sourdough bread and mother sauce. “Once you understand the classics, you can do anything you want,” Holen said. Chris Holen’s notes, spices and oils sit ready to help with cooking. THURSDAY, MAY 21, 2020 // 5
