Around Town: Katie Currid

In her new series, Food Editor Grace Pritchett shares a drink or two and a bite to eat with some of KC’s most prominent food personalities– and shares the insights and good times with us!

Katie Currid is a photojournalist and food photographer living in Weston, Missouri with her husband, Tyler, and their son, Fox. Katie and Tyler lived in Italy for a short period of time, giving them the idea for their Italian Prosecco truck, Fizzolino, which started operating in October 2018. I sat down with Katie recently at her favorite restaurants in town, Green Dirt Farm and O’Malley’s, to chat about food photography, Italy, and why celery sucks.

On her Kansas City roots

Pritchett: Are you originally from Kansas City?

Currid: So, I moved around a lot as a kid. We moved [to Kansas City] when I was 15. I went to Mizzou; don't hold it against me. After school, I ended up doing news internships in Dallas and Oregon before ending up in Virginia for my first job. Tyler joined the army and they sent him to Italy. I couldn't go with him unless we were married, so we got married very quickly. He came home for the holidays from basic training and we got married the day after Christmas in his grandparents’ living room. He went over to Italy first and I finished up my job in the states before joining him.

Pritchett: Is that the last place you lived before moving back to Missouri?

Currid: Yes! We lived there for about four years. We had Fox there and then when he was two months old, we moved back. The last year has been crazy with us buying a home, having a newborn, and Tyler finding a job.

Pritchett: Where did you get the name Fox from?

Currid: I watched a lot of X-Files when I was pregnant.

Pritchett: I was going to guess that!

Currid: My husband insists it's not from the X-Files even though he's a bigger fan than I am. He's like, "It's an old Norwegian name."

On her inspiration for food photography

Pritchett: Skipping back here. When you went to journalism school, did you know you wanted to do as much photography as you do now?

Currid: I’ve always been into photography so I went into photojournalism at Mizzou. I graduated and had a lot of different newspaper jobs. But when we went to Italy, I wasn't allowed to work because military spouses don't get working visas.

Pritchett: Oh god no. What do you even do in that situation?

Currid: I know. But once we got to Italy, I ended up starting a blog with my best friend. She's a graphic designer in New York. That's also how I got into food photography because I would just make stuff in my kitchen and take photos of it because I needed something to do. That's where my style came from.

Pritchett: Did you have any experience in food photography before moving to Italy?

Currid: Noooo

Pritchett: Did you have any interest in it?

Currid: I was into baking in college and I would bake for all my friends. It was more like, I liked food and I was also into photography.

On her favorite restaurants in town

Pritchett: What makes Green Dirt Farm and O’Malley’s your favorite restaurants?

Currid: I think it’s important to patronize local businesses in your town. We chose to live in Weston because it's a small town and it has that community feel to it. Plus, I love how historic O'Malley's is. It’s like six stories into the ground from civil war era. And I fucking love cheese. I was so excited when Green Dirt Farm opened up because they have wine and cheese.

[In the most perfect Midwest-fashion, Katie and I each ordered sandwiches at Green Dirt Farm Creamery and then split them. Katie ordered the Ruby, Don't Go Bacon My Heart and I ordered The Reuben.]

Currid: Are you liking the Ruby?

Pritchett: It's so good! I love how the fruit jam tastes with the bacon.

Currid: I love that sweet and salty.

Pritchett: Are there any foods you won't eat?

Currid: Mmm, no. I will eat anything. But I don't love olives. I'll try anything once and I'll just pick around it if I don't like it. What about you?

Pritchett: I don't like raw celery.

Currid: Okay, yes! I hate celery. It tastes like trash.

Pritchett: It's so bitter!

Currid: And it's permeates everything. But you know what's good? Celery root. It doesn't taste anything like that.

Pritchett: I will say I like celery cooked in things, like chicken noodle soup, but it has to be cooked. I can’t do raw celery.

Currid: Like those celery logs with peanut butter and raisins; you just ruined peanut butter and raisins.

On her side hustle, Fizzolino

Pritchett: How soon after moving back to Missouri did you start Fizzolino? Did you have the idea in Italy?

Currid: So those little trucks are all over Italy. They act as maintenance vehicles, trash trucks, racing vehicles, farm equipment, etc. There was a British company that started their own prosecco truck while we were in Italy and I thought it was really cool. We found one on Facebook and the military will ship your belongings for free, so I thought I could get it easily. We ended up going through all these laws and regulations between Italy, the US, and the military. And the day we were supposed to get the truck, I ended up going into labor. I had to call the family and tell them in Italian that we would have to reschedule.

Pritchett: Are you fluent in Italian?

Currid: No, I call myself "Pizza Fluent." I'm really good at ordering things at restaurants.

Pritchett: That's an insane situation while you guys are trying to leave the country.

Currid: It was– but I think it's cool that the truck and Fox came about around the same time. The family that sold to us was really sweet because they had tons of offers on the truck but they wanted it to go with us so it could go to America. Customs ended up being insane. They came to our house in Italy to inspect it and they wouldn’t accept it because they said it was too dirty. So there are movers packing up our house while Tyler and I are on our hands and knees, using every last cleaning supply we have to clean it and Fox is in a car seat next to us. I’ve never been so fucking tired in my life.

Pritchett: And at that point, you’ve put so much into it so you can’t stop now.

Currid: Exactly. We thought about selling it for a bit but we ended up getting everything secured. We watched it go into a shipping crate and just hoped we would see it in America.

Pritchett: It’s really cool to hear how much went into the business before the truck was even here.

Currid: I feel like we worked so physically hard to do everything we could. And I've asked my husband before what we would do if we sold the business. I think if we stopped the business, we would still keep the truck because it has such a personal connection for us.

Pritchett: It's like the best souvenir you could have from your time in Italy. Besides Fox.

Currid: Yeah, it's like our first baby. It makes a lot of people happy.

To learn more about the Fizzolino Truck, check out their MIKC Explore profile here.