Despite my obsession with food—0h, yes, it’s an obsession, which makes dieting very difficult—when I go to a food event, I also like to get a sense of the people behind the food. After all, even simple vegetables come to us as the result of someone’s labor, and this is even more true with bread and pastries, which involve the extra steps of grinding, preparing, and baking. It is my feeling that we should always be aware of the people who are involved with our food, whether they are local farmers or migrant workers toiling in the heat in far away places such as California.

At the Bread Fair last Saturday in Skowhegan, I met many interesting people and vendors, and in this post I’m going to write about a couple of them who really stood out.

First, there was Lindsey Lewis from Snowy Hill Farm in Washington, Maine. Lindsey is a baker, and I had one of her chocolate croissants, which I duly, if grudgingly, shared with my husband, Clif. The croissant was very buttery, just as it should be, with a better than average chocolate filling. Now, I am getting to the age when anyone under 30 looks young to me—sometimes like a teenager. When I first met Lindsey, my impression of her was that she was a teenager, but she was so self-possessed and the croissant was so good I figured that it must be my old eyes and that Lindsey was really in her twenties. As it turns out, Lindsey is indeed young—she’s 15  years old—and I found out she’s been baking since she was 9.

“My mother and grandmother like to bake, and I learned from them,” Lindsey said.

“Do you plan to bake professionally someday?” I asked.

“Yes,” Lindsey answered. “I’d like to work in Rockland or Portland.”

When you come from Washington, Maine—population 1,300—going to Rockland or Portland is the equivalent of going to the big city.

I admire anybody who is handy and who can do something really well, but I especially love it when a person is young and filled with pizazz and is doing something out of the ordinary for his or her age group. Lindsey can take her place with our own Farmer Kev, who started farming when he was 17. Good luck to both of them.

Equally as impressive but in a different way was Matthew DuBois of The Bankery in Skowhegan, Maine. Matthew also looked young to me, as well as very smart in his white chef’s jacket. However, he did not look like a teenager, and when I visited The Bankery’s website, I learned that Matthew graduated from the Connecticut Culinary Institute. Unfortunately, I didn’t get much of a chance to talk with Matthew. There were too many people clamoring around The Bankery’s table. And for good reason. On The Bankery’s website, they describe themselves as “a traditional, from-scratch bakery. We use only high quality, all natural ingredients and specialize in wedding cakes, occasion cakes, and fine baked goods including breads, pies, and pastries.” They aren’t kidding. We had one of their cream horns, and it was one of the best we have ever had, with an incredibly flaky pastry and a filling that was a step above the usual filling used in cream horns.

“Did you use almond extract in that filling?” I asked Matthew.

“Yes,” he answered, smiling. “We use it in a lot of our cream fillings and toppings.”

I’m not sure whether I should be grateful or sorry that Skowhegan is about an hour north of here and too far for regular trips to The Bankery. Nevertheless, I will be scheming for reasons to go to Skowhegan. The Bankery serves soups, quiches, and croissants with various savory fillings, so a lunch outing is a real possibility, with dessert following, of course.

In September, there will be a grand opening of the Somerset Grist Mill, in Skowhegan. Clif and I hope to go, and if we do, you can bet we’ll be checking out The Bankery as well.