Head Chef Pat Leavitt on Cooking, Creativity and Life

Serenity Ridge Kitchen Manager & Much-Loved Chef Retires

Pat Leavitt prepares to make an offering to His Holiness Dawa Dhargyal Rinpoche during his summer 2019 visit to Serenity RidgeThroughout 25 years at Serenity Ridge, the headquarters of Ligmincha International located in Shipman, Virginia, one woman has been spreading joy and bliss and nourishment at almost every retreat with her constant care and creativity in the retreat center's kitchens. That woman is kitchen manager and head chef Pat Leavitt.

Over all of those years an immense trust has developed in the nourishment she provided attendees to sustain them in their days of teachings and practice during retreats held at Serenity Ridge. Her wonderful meals, steadfast dedication, creative energy and flexible behavior throughout the many years of development of the retreat center were extraordinary. From her first cooking at one of Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche's pre-Serenity Ridge retreats held outdoors at a group campground, to operating from the small kitchen in the basement of the lama house for many years at Serenity Ridge, and through the much-needed upgrade to a full commercial kitchen in the new Kunzang Khang building, she's overseen it all, and with a big heart.

We had a chance to sit down with Pat for a beautiful conversation about her journey and about her recent decision to retire from her position at Serenity Ridge. Thank you, Pat, from all of us! We are looking forward to seeing you in the gompa.

VOCL: What sparked your interest in cooking, Pat? Can you tell us a little about your journey in becoming a chef?
PAT: Making food and sharing food, it's such a universal expression of love. I need to express this and share my creativity with people. Plus, I feel more secure when I'm physically near the food; it's primal!

I have to say a big breakthrough for me was back in 1985 when I went to West Virginia to participate in Guitar Craft, a unique series of residential guitar seminars led by musician Robert Fripp. The center hosting us prepared all of the food. And I had this wake-up experience that this is the best vegetarian food I've ever had. There was a quality to it. Robert is a vegetarian, too, so that's what was served at all of his seminars.

I joined Guitar Craft after that and it took off. There was a lot of touring and activity going on, including a number of other residential courses. I was offered the kitchen manager spot for one of these courses, and then I kind of hopscotched into doing a lot more of that. So that was a big leap for me in that direction.

VOCL: What were some of the biggest challenges in managing a professional kitchen at Serenity Ridge as opposed to simply being a great chef?
PAT: First, I want to acknowledge the chefs and kitchen people who have given inspiration, support and sheer hard work, Evie Safran, Sarah Lanzman, and Aubrey Wallace, to name just a few.

The number-one challenge for me over the years was finding the people to work with and having a stable number of staff helping in the kitchen, because it's not a full-time job. It's a transient job, so for every retreat you kind of have to re-create the staff.

Another big challenge is trying to match the dietary requirements that are coming at you during each retreat. There are a lot of subsets of people who don't eat certain things. They let me know, and I want to accommodate, to put something on their plate that they are going to enjoy eating and that supports their practice.

Pat and volunteers in old kitchen during a service retreat VOCL: What has it been like working with new volunteers from the sangha at every retreat? How did you bring new people into your creative space in the kitchen?
PAT: That's one of the fun things, matching them to tasks. Their help is crucial to getting many cases of vegetables prepped. The volunteers are coming straight from teachings or meditation in the gompa so they're all bright and shiny. The other cooks enjoy the volunteers' energy and freshness, too. But they have to be reminded that the kitchen is a dangerous place. No bare feet!

VOCL: You created a convivial atmosphere in the kitchen during each retreat where everyone gave their best for the team. How were you able to do that within such a challenging and fast-paced environment? Did you bring your practice into that space?
PAT: When I first come into the kitchen in the morning, I light the shrine that sets the tone. It's like saying hello to Rinpoche in the morning, and it feels like the deities are kind of watching over this space. In those moments I am making that connection on behalf of everybody who is working in the kitchen that day. We haven't ever taken that to a formal level in the kitchen, and I don't require it of anyone else there. Instead, it's sort of like the conductor of an orchestra; the leader of the group has to have that orientation.

There's also the personal aspiration or dedication that the people who are preparing the food invoke when they come into the space of the kitchen. And there are the meal prayers that are said before eating the food.

VOCL: What went into the planning of the menus at retreats?
PAT: Designing the menu is something that I enjoy so much. I try to match it to the group, to the season, the weather, to make it fit the moment. Let me acknowledge the patience of every retreat coordinator, rental group manager and retreat center director that's ever had to work with me! (laughter)

VOCL: When Rinpoche requested that all meals at Serenity Ridge be vegetarian, how challenging was that for you to adapt and switch to a plant-based cuisine? And how do you see the value of plant-based eating as a way of life?

PAT: Oh my gosh, it was so much easier! Now we don't have to cook meat, fish, chicken and provide a vegetarian and a vegan option. It just made it so much easier for us.

Plant-based eating is extremely important for the individual, and even more so for the planet and the health of the bigger environmental systems. So it's very important for more people to get on board with plant-based eating. If you are eating animal products, connect with gratitude for these lives, and see if you can inform yourself about what's involved there.

VOCL: Another change that Rinpoche instigated a few years ago was to designate a few days of each retreat to be in silence. How do you feel this focus on simply sitting and eating in silence affects our meals? And did the periods of silence affect the vibe that you naturally created in the kitchen?
PAT: When people are eating in silence, they bring so much more awareness to what they're eating. And they really taste the food. They deeply enjoy the food. This is true also for other retreats that I cook for here, such as the Insight Meditation group. Their retreats are totally silent.

In the kitchen, I generally always prefer that there be only necessary talking, keeping the topic to whatever it is that we are doing right now, so that it is always relevant to the task at hand.

VOCL: What are people's biggest misconceptions of vegetarian cooking? And what recipe would you recommend someone try who might still be on the fence about vegetarian cooking?
PAT: A common misconception is for people to feel like they're not going to feel satisfied. That it's going to be boring. Or that it's too strange and unfamiliar. That they're not going to like it. People bring all their preconceptions.

A favorite dish to try? This may sound too easy, but I love the red lentil dal. I've made it a million times. It's the fall-back meal that I've made at practically every retreat. To me, it's like a real comfort food. I go to that. I still love it, you know?

Here is a link to Pat's red lentil dal recipe.

VOCL: How would you suggest people channel their inner creativity in the kitchen during these challenging times when so many more people are at home?
PAT: If you feel comfortable doing it, go to the farmers market. Connect with your local food network, your local food sourcing. If you haven't already done that, try to find out who's near you who is growing stuff. Maybe you're growing something and could barter with others. My neighbor up the road from me just dropped off a jar of fig preserves; they have a fig tree. That was pretty awesome.

VOCL: What led to your decision to retire now?
PAT: It was so easy to recognize that this was the obvious thing to do at this juncture, with Serenity Ridge Retreat Center temporarily closed to onsite events during the covid-19 pandemic. I guess on some level I've been waiting for it to be the right moment. There are no retreats to cook for because of the pandemic. And the residency program at Serenity Ridge has naturally been put on hold until the center reopens.

I recently had a fabulous horoscope and astrological reading. And my eyes just went wide open – Oooh! It's like I've been given this whole new take on where I've been and where I'm going. It's really exciting. There's a fresh sense of true self, whatever that is, with this chapter of life.

In concrete terms it means I get to sit on my porch and watch the vultures, the sky. Put on music, dance. Cook to please myself and my friends. Keep rediscovering kindness, playfulness.

I've just exited a long period of serving a function within an organization: the apron has come off. Who's there? Identity may be an illusion, a learned habit, but we are who we are; we each have to respond to the human challenge in our own way. Be who's really there in the heart.

VOCL: Besides being a chef, you also are an accomplished artist, a singer/songwriter, craftsperson and activist. What's inspiring you now, and what might be up ahead on the horizon?
PAT: Rinpoche's way of communicating about how our creativity naturally arises from our open clear space just resonates with me so much. That's what I'm about. I've been doing some drawing and writing as a part of my daily process. Listening to music, rediscovering music. I'm reorganizing my household and taking ownership of my space again. So it's time to reinvent myself. I'm really happy about the change. It's been coming for a while, like a long birth tunnel.

The next piece is still unfolding. I would like to do more with all of this material that I have – the recipes and menus, and put that into some format to share. I sense that many more creative projects await.

VOCL: We loved seeing you at the online Summer Retreat on Zoom! How do you see your relationship to Rinpoche and the Bön teachings evolving at this point?
PAT: Yes, that was a great retreat! This is the time now for me to engage with Bön and with Buddhism in an individual relationship and not as a part of an organization. There is no longer the role; let all of that dissolve and I can just be purely a practitioner.

It's wonderful that we are having these worldwide online retreats and talks. The dharma is so available now. It's just an incredible time on the planet.

(For more on Pat Leavitt, read Ton Bisscheroux's interview in the Spring 2018 Issue of Ligmincha Europe Magazine.)