James Beard Award Nominee Don Guerra.
Courtesy Don GuerraWhen Don Guerra opened Barrio Bread, he was at the forefront of a burgeoning movement using a diverse collection of ancient and heritage grains in modern food. The idea might sound commonplace in 2021, but a decade ago it was cutting-edge to have such an old-school ethos.
“The entire idea of there being different species of wheat to work with just totally vanished,” the Tuscon, Ariz.-based Guerra says, owing to the agricultural shift away from small farms to mass production in the middle of the 20th century. “People thought there was rye, whole wheat, and white flour, and that's it.”
From his humble origins in a garage bakery, Guerra, 50, has built Barrio Bread into a string of interconnected food businesses—including the newly opened Barrio Charro, a collaboration with fellow Tucson chef and restaurateur Carlotta Flores.
In recent years, Tucson itself has received recognition for its modern dining scene and its lengthy and unique history of food production. In 2015, it was named as a UNESCO City of Gastronomy.
“Tucson's designation as a City of Gastronomy from UNESCO places a huge spotlight on our city and destination,” says Guerra, a James Beard Award Nominee. “It’s allowed people to really open up and be proud, to be less closed off and to share. If you give, you will receive so much more in return. But if you're closed off, you can't do either. Make a choice to be open.”
Guerra spoke with Penta about how he first got started using heritage grains, as well as how he’s built that concept into an entire local food economy and supply chain.
At work at Barrio Bread.
Courtesy Don GuerraPENTA: You started your bakery as a small operation run from your garage and have expanded and flourished since. How did you initially make that leap?
Don Guerra: In 2009 I decided to make that jump to go full-time with the bread, and leave my teaching job, founding Barrio Bread and that was out of my garage. I had been a bakery owner before, prior to teaching, but the whole time I was thinking I gotta get back to the bakery, it’s what I love.
It was by choice to do it out of the garage, but also by circumstance. I could not get a SBA loan—there was no money available in terms of loans due to the economic crash, even though I had a successful company in the past. So that was the decision to go to the garage. I had been traveling the world to see different bakery setups and see how they do it, and Mexico, man, people have bakeries as part of their house and you would never know. Sometimes you’re looking through that counter service area down the hallway, and people are hanging out watching TV or something. I’m like that's the coolest! That kind of hit me. I have to do it, I don’t have the money to build a brick and mortar, but I'm going to think creatively, and with help from my father-in-law put the whole thing together.
How did you first get involved in using heritage grains?
It wasn’t until two years later, 2011, that I hooked up with Native Seeds Search on a SARE grant —Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education grant. They were applying for this grant to get money to begin to establish the beginnings of a local supply chain for farmers, millers, and bakers to grow Chapalote corn and white Sonoran wheat.
I had always dreamed of being that baker, tearing open a bag of flour and knowing where that flour came from; I was in that field, I was shaking that farmer’s hand, we planned to do this together! That had been my dream, and then when they did their first test crop with 4 acres of wheat, I made bread with it, and that was the coolest moment for me. I thought this is it for me, this is the future.
Do the grains you’re using benefit the local food economy?
The bakery has become a kind of a hub for the grain chain. I consume a lot of flour, right now we’re using about 240,000 pounds-plus of local grain at my bakery, which is about 120 acres in the field. I’m trying to keep all the economics right here in my community. I have a 100-mile radius; I know the farmers, I help select the grain varieties they grow. I plan two years out with them and I know what's happening.
The end result is I have something I can be incredibly proud of—it’s a dream come true for me, not only is it supporting and nourishing my community with what grows local, but I’m creating jobs, I’m driving this local grain economy, and the economics are really tight in that, and with Covid, across the country people realized how important that food supply chain is. What is the supply chain, and how do you secure it? People did get panicky when there was no flour on the grocery store shelves. That kind of proved to me that it’s important, and that’s what I’ve done the last two years, build this flour company called Barrio Grains. This is my new project and my new business.
You’ve been nominated for a James Beard Award. Do you think there’s a need for change in the awards industry in terms of diversity, inclusion, and who’s benefiting and receiving the recognition?
Really my passion and my work is working with the BIPOC community. We need to shine a light on the people who have been doing this for years without getting the recognition. We focus a lot on the end product, maybe these chefs or these bakers have this end product, it’s so cool, and everyone loves it, and it’s all about the end. But it's really about the whole. I think that’s the retooling we need to have. We talk a lot about farm-to-table, but let’s look at it holistically, from the entire industry.
Let’s focus on the whole picture. Let’s raise awareness of where food comes from. Let’s raise awareness of who the workers are that bring that food from the farm to the table. As an Indigenous person—I'm Anglo-Indigenous, Yaqui, Spanish, and Irish—it’s important to me. Why aren’t these local farms getting the recognition? Let’s focus on who’s been sharing these practices and who’s kept these seeds and plants and foods alive for years. That’s where I think we need to shift our thinking.
This article has been edited for length and clarity.
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20 Minutes With: Acclaimed Baker & Barrio Bread Founder Don Guerra - Barron's
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