Steve Atkinson: Gourmet Chef with a Passion for Healthy Living 

Originally published in The Kaleidoscope Weekly, February 28, 2008 - Reprinted with permission

Written by Lois Ann Marler

Photos by Julie Atkinson

Bon Appetit! Steve Atkinson serves guests healthy

gourmet meals at his home in rural Phelps County

Food. The term means something to everyone, primarily, “What’s for dinner?” For Phelps County resident Steve Atkinson, food is the hub around which his world revolves. He’s a gourmet cook with a strong organic influence, but that’s just one facet of this man whose life has been devoted to a deep respect and understanding of mankind’s relationship with food and its inextricable effect on health.

Originally from Springfield, Mo., Atkinson moved to Rolla in 1971 to open his dental clinic. He’s known as a fine dental professional, but few know about his dynamite gourmet cooking. This “man in love with food” loves to take all week to prepare a multiple-course, made-from-scratch gourmet meal for up to 12 friends.

“The unifying concept for almost everything I do is food, from the farming to the dentistry,” Atkinson explained from across the table at his farm as one of the family pets, Owain, the Border collie, sat nearby.

“My first cooking experience was in Boy Scouts,” Atkinson recalled proudly, adding that he would have been grade-school age during his first cooking endeavor. The dish was called “scrambled potatoes,” and as is typical for a chef, Atkinson began experimenting with the recipe and serving his adaptations of

scrambled potatoes to his three younger brothers. “I babysat my younger brothers and I enjoyed preparing meals for them,” he explained.

The shift in Atkinson’s cooking – from basic to extravagant – came when he began frequenting gourmet restaurants in metropolitan areas and preparing complicated recipes at home. His complex recipes sometimes take three to four days to prepare and often require a trip to the big city for ingredients. “If I’m doing something really fancy, I have to go to St. Louis for ingredients,” said Atkinson, who has never been to culinary school. “My mascarpone and lime-coconut cannoli is an example of a complicated, but delicious – and very involved – recipe,” Atkinson explained, adding that it is his favorite dessert and takes all week to prepare.

He even ventures to try new recipes on guests at his dinner parties. “Once I prepared a fish pizza for my guests that I had never made before,” Atkinson confessed. “It was terrible!” Atkinson serves his gourmet meals in courses. “We might start with a salad, or I’ve done it before with salad as the last course before dessert, which is the European way,” Atkinson explained, adding that he has served as many as eight courses in a night of dining.

In the back of a hay-strewn pickup truck or at his master's

feet near the fireplace, Owain, the border collie, is Steve's

trusty companion

Atkinson finds that guests are gracious and have never insulted him by saying a particular dish tastes bad. “If you get a reputation as a gourmet cook, people often think it’s their lack of taste if they don’t like something,” Atkinson explained. “My family is an exception to that, however. They tell me if they don’t like something!” The family donned the title of “swamp” to one of Atkinson’s less-than-favorable dishes.

The frequency of Atkinson’s big gourmet parties has waned a little since he moved to his 300-acre farm, tucked away between Rolla and Newburg. Atkinson also leaves the everyday cooking responsibility with his wife, Holly, and describes her cooking style as “gourmet country.”

Atkinson is also an avid reader and enjoys devouring material about food, nutrition and food history. “I also love reading food blogs on the Internet,” Atkinson said, adding that he also enjoys reading about the history of food and the anthropology of eating. “Long ago the Japanese islands were overpopulated and they had little fuel. That led to wok cooking because it was very energy efficient.” Atkinson further

explained that the lack of fuel also led to the Japanese consumption of raw food, and that this type of food – in the form of sushi – is quite popular worldwide today.On the flip side, Atkinson explained that in pioneer America, there was an abundance of fuel and lack of labor, which led to cast-iron pots of bubbling brews left over the fire for hours. “All these different cultural cuisines have a logical reason behind their development,” he said.

ORGANIC FOODIE

Atkinson’s passion for food doesn’t stop with his palate. His high standards for land use and treatment of animals set him apart in the choices he makes with his diet. His pristine 300-acre Greenwood Farms is an expression of his passion for healthy gourmet food, responsible land use and organic farming.

In the 1980s, the family farm sat near Salem and was referred to as “Temporary Greenwood,” as the Atkinson family realized that it wasn’t where they wanted to settle permanently. In 1994 they built their timber-framed house on their current farm property.

Inspiration for Greenwood Farms’ name came from “The Return of the King” by J.R.R. Tolkien, with a vision that includes reverence for all life, where “the joy of following our bliss mingles with the pain of loving deeply,” and, from the namesake book, where “tears are the very wine of blessedness.”

The Atkinson Family:

Front (L to R): Kindra & Holly

Back (L to R): Julie, David & Steve

The process of converting undeveloped earth into a workable farm was a labor of love.  “Every bit of pasture that we have now we had to clear ourselves,” recalled Atkinson. “Financially and practically, it would have been a lot easier for us to have sold this land and found a farm where there were lots of good pastures and fences. But we loved the house. We’re on the Little Piney River, which I’ve always loved, and we didn’t want to give that up,” Atkinson said sincerely. So, they built the farm “a little piece at a time.”

Atkinson’s farm is a paradise for the family and things growing on it. There are no ranch hands at Greenwood Farms, just family members to do everything from building fence to raising vegetables to the laborious task of lambing season every spring. “We operate and make decisions by community here,” Atkinson explained, noting that his wife, Holly, daughter, Julie, son, David, and daughter-in-law, Kindra, all play vital roles in the entire farm operation. 

The family markets their grass-fed beef, lamb, pork, and poultry, along with dairy products and organic vegetables to other like-minded organic foodies who appreciate the tender care in raising products that

 are, as Atkinson explains it,  “beyond organic,” which means, in part, that animals aren’t just free of chemicals, but are allowed to flourish in a grass-fed, cruelty-free environment where they enjoy more freedom than many humans.

The newest product coming soon from Greenwood Farms is their line of raw dairy products. “We’re building a new dairy parlor with a cheese plant and bottling plant. We will be licensed by the state to sell bottled raw milk and aged cheese from raw milk,” Atkinson explained enthusiastically.

“In our farm we are combining the gourmet taste with the optimal health benefits. And the management to have both is very complex,” Atkinson expounded. This complexity reaches into the species of every blade of grass consumed by Atkinson’s grass-fed creatures, as well as the breed of the animal. “The stress management of the animal is extremely important, too. Stressed animals produce tough, chewy meat,” he claimed. The gourmet influence is also evident at the butcher shop as meat is processed according to Atkinson’s stringent protocol.

Steve Atkinson holds the reins of his horse-drawn John Deere manure spreader. He's living out his "beyond organic" dream on his family farm.

THE HEALTH CONNECTION

From his dental chair in Rolla, Mo., Atkinson has witnessed nutrition’s role in health, especially the result of poor nutrition on teeth. “In my years of practice, I’ve noticed some big changes in patients’ teeth,” Atkinson said. “When I first started my practice in the ’70s, a lot of little kids had terrible cavities. That improved over the years. Now I’m seeing young adults – from high school age through their 20s – who have absolutely ruined their teeth with soda.”

Atkinson explained that the “big gulp” soft drink is anything but “soft” on teeth as it wreaks havoc on dental health. “I’m making more dentures for young adults than I ever have in my 36-year career, and it’s a direct result of soda consumption.”

For the dentist, farmer and organic chef, it comes together as one whole. “It all dovetails,” Atkinson expounded, saying that our health, our food, and even our soil is interrelated.  His discussion of soil revealed yet another passion as his expressions became more animated, and he explained how important it is that we have respect for the dirt under our feet. “Studies have shown that soil quality affects the nutritional quality of plants and the animals that eat the plants. I’d like to see more studies conducted on soil.”

 If you want to know Steve Atkinson’s opinions on food and nutrition, he’s happy to oblige, but he is a gentleman with his opinions. “I’m not a crusader,” Atkinson responded when asked about his influence on others, and stressed that he does not participate in activism work of any kind. “I suppose I am a crusader in my own family, but I don’t feel like I have the right to change people’s opinions or mess with their free will.”

Freedom and integrity are evident in Atkinson’s philosophies. “We need to allow the soil, the wildlife and all the parts of our ecosystem to become part of our community again so that it has a voice,” Atkinson emphasized. At Greenwood Farms, Steve Atkinson hears that voice, loud and clear.

For more information on Greenwood Farms’ philosophy and products, visit the Web site: greenwoodfarms.com.