Sep 18, 2026 · 47 min · 13 segments
Jaime and Matt connect with Chef Robert Dumas to discuss his work at Paul Smith’s College and his passion for outdoor cooking in the Adirondack Mountains. The conversation highlights the skills needed…
Matt BrittHost
Jamie SchickHostWe've kind of built a new umbrella under which our culinary, baking, and hospitality programs live, and that's our Institute of Adventure, Hospitality, and Food.
Our goal with the Institute and with my position is to really reinvigorate our academic programs while strengthening our connections in our region and bringing in new sources of revenue through grant funding, through customer-facing activities, etc.
It's, you know, I think a wonderful opportunity to put my thumbprint on the legacy at Paul Smith College, which is an exciting opportunity.
And I know one thing we're going to talk a lot about today is outdoor cooking and the idea of an outdoor classroom.
And one thing I'd love to kind of start with is what does this all really mean and entail? I know this is a very large question I'm asking, but when I think of outdoor cooking, there's a couple of different ways I can think of it.
So maybe we just kind of start with how we might define outdoor cooking, and then we can broaden that into the outdoor classroom.
That's really a big part of kind of our pedagogical approach here at Paul Smith's College, where we're situated in the Adirondacks.
So I think when I reference this concept of an outdoor classroom, it's A, informed by Paul Smith College, but it's B, it's also informed by work that I've done at University of Maine prior to this.
I had a USDA grant where I got to engage culinary arts instructors at the high school level throughout the state in immersive culinary experiences on farms and at agricultural producers throughout the state.
And both of both Paul Smith's and my time at UMaine have really impressed upon me that when you get a learner outside of kind of the confines of an indoor classroom, it re-centers the way that they think about food and that they make connections with with the landscape and the place that they're cooking in.
Dig down a little bit on that and talk a little bit more about outdoor cooking.
You're absolutely right, Jamie, that there is certainly a natural or linear connection that a person would make between outdoor cooking and like grilling on their back porch.
You're certainly cooking outdoors and, you know, you might be getting bit by a mosquito and the smoke's going in your eyes, et cetera.
We've kind of built a new umbrella under which our culinary, baking, and hospitality programs live, and that's our Institute of Adventure, Hospitality, and Food.
Our goal with the Institute and with my position is to really reinvigorate our academic programs while strengthening our connections in our region and bringing in new sources of revenue through grant funding, through customer-facing activities, etc.
It's, you know, I think a wonderful opportunity to put my thumbprint on the legacy at Paul Smith College, which is an exciting opportunity.
And I know one thing we're going to talk a lot about today is outdoor cooking and the idea of an outdoor classroom.
And one thing I'd love to kind of start with is what does this all really mean and entail? I know this is a very large question I'm asking, but when I think of outdoor cooking, there's a couple of different ways I can think of it.
So maybe we just kind of start with how we might define outdoor cooking, and then we can broaden that into the outdoor classroom.
That's really a big part of kind of our pedagogical approach here at Paul Smith's College, where we're situated in the Adirondacks.
So I think when I reference this concept of an outdoor classroom, it's A, informed by Paul Smith College, but it's B, it's also informed by work that I've done at University of Maine prior to this.
I had a USDA grant where I got to engage culinary arts instructors at the high school level throughout the state in immersive culinary experiences on farms and at agricultural producers throughout the state.
And both of both Paul Smith's and my time at UMaine have really impressed upon me that when you get a learner outside of kind of the confines of an indoor classroom, it re-centers the way that they think about food and that they make connections with with the landscape and the place that they're cooking in.
Dig down a little bit on that and talk a little bit more about outdoor cooking.
You're absolutely right, Jamie, that there is certainly a natural or linear connection that a person would make between outdoor cooking and like grilling on their back porch.
You're certainly cooking outdoors and, you know, you might be getting bit by a mosquito and the smoke's going in your eyes, et cetera.
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