Food for Body and Soul
story by Donna Hecker and photography by Talitha Schroeder
Barbara “Babz” Goldman Nartowicz can barely contain her energy. From her kinetic brown curls to the very soles of her feet, she generates a magnetic pull powerful enough to capture anyone within a 12-foot radius.
Her spirit animal is the white buffalo – symbol of abundance, resilience, gratitude, strength. Its image on her logo memorializes childhood adventures with her great-aunt Bootz and grandmother Nan-Nan, her original (and greatest) culinary mentors.
“Between eating our way across the state, chasing down ingredients in supermarkets, and being patient with an over-eager little girl who wanted to do it all in the kitchen; they took me along buffalo trails. Bootz was from Stamping Ground; she showed me where the buffalo used to roam, licking salt and following the water.”
“Nan-Nan preferred the old winding roads, first created by buffalo making their way to the river. My childhood was filled with her scaring me into laughter as we wound across those two-lane highways. Usually we would grab a bite to eat by the river, and Nan-Nan would play recordings on her portable cassette player while we flew down the hill, windows open and music dancing in the air.”
Babz grew up in Maysville, Ky. where her Nan-Nan was a tour guide in later years. Today, Babz and her husband Al live in Nan-Nan’s old house, which faces the Simon Kenton Bridge – its soaring towers suspended high above the Ohio River. They operate Babz Bistro out of a refurbished trailer in Nan-Nan’s backyard under arcing strings of lights that mirror those on the bridge.
Babz also writes a food column called Babz Bites for her local paper and teaches at the Maysville Institute of Culinary Arts, where she has high hopes and dreams for her students. “I want to make some crazy things happen, show them there are other ways to work in the food world (outside of restaurants); ways that are rewarding in a different capacity.”
That’s why she took them to visit FoodChain recently and why she’ll be at this year’s FEAST – an annual gathering of women chefs, and FoodChain’s principal fundraiser. It’s why she has sought out local farmers and producers in her part of Kentucky; why she’s on a mission to help her community learn about different foods; and where their food comes from.
Like the sumac Babz sources from a musician-songwriter in Lewis County. It grows in beautiful red clusters that she dries to make a beverage or syrup. For FEAST, she’ll turn the brilliantly colored syrup into sumac slushies.
Babz told us all this as we prepped for our own picnic by the river, starting with a stop at the local IGA. “These ladies have it going on!” said Babz, and she was right. We loaded up on fried chicken, mustard potato salad, and Maysville’s signature transparent pudding. Then drove to a riverfront park where a lone fisherman was trying his luck.
And returned to the subject of community and what it meant to be part of one. After college, Babz accompanied her best friend on a trip to India. She said they eventually ventured north into the Himalayan foothills to McLeod Ganj, a suburb of Dharamashala in the Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh. McLeod Ganj is also known as “Little Lhasa” and is the headquarters of the Tibetan government-in-exile, and home to many Tibetans, including His Holiness The Dalai Lama.
“Of all my global adventures, I have never met more gracious and thoughtful persons than the Tibetans living among the great mountains of the north. I had never witnessed a group of people taking care of each other as a community – as the Tibetans taught me was possible.”
There Babz and her friend enrolled in cooking classes, where their favorite instructor recruited them to teach English to local monks in exchange for cooking lessons.
“Of course we leapt at the opportunity. The monks were living in refuge. They had escaped what was Tibet, after being kidnapped and tortured by the Chinese government. They were no longer capable of functioning as they had before, but this cooking school gave them the means to teach and to be provided for, and to remain an active part of the community. And they wanted to learn to read and write English so they could tell their story.”
Back home in Maysville, Babz carries on that sense of community and the flavors she learned to love while in McLeod Ganj. “Our favorite food was the Tibetan Momo. Momo comes from the Tibetan word Mog-Mog, which means stuffed bun. A type of steamed filled dumpling, this scrumptious treat was sold as a street food and the best ones came from the old ladies camped out around the corners of the beautiful Buddhist temples. Funny how the old ladies in every culture just have that homemade touch with everything they do.”
Babz’s favorite Momos were stuffed with potato, scallion and white cheese and inspired her choice of what to prepare for FEAST. “It just made sense to do a Momo. The Tibetans are a perfect example of people that take care of their own, just like the incredible folks at FoodChain do every day.”
But of course she couldn’t do a traditional Momo. “I needed to put a Kentucky spin on this one-bite nosh so I’m filling it with mashed potato, scallion, and my Nan-Nan’s pimento cheese, with a dollop of sweet pepper jelly on top. Momos will always be one of my favorite things to cook and eat. I'm so excited to share this part of myself, Kentucky and Tibetan culture with everyone at FEAST this year.”
From the Himalayan foothills to the Ohio River valley, Babz Nartowicz is on a pilgrimage of connection, trading in that most precious of human commodities – the ability to build a community and nourish it through food for body and soul. We said goodbye to Babz and her beloved Maysville with our hearts and bellies full.
Related Content
Babz’s Bacon Salad
Chef Babz's grandmother, whom she called Nan-Nan, tricked her into eating salads by smothering spring vegetables and lettuces in bacon dressing. There's really not a lot of bacon in this recipe, but Babz says its sweet and tangy flavors tasted delicious to her eight-year-old self. And to us, too.
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