Ancient grain: Beth George ’85 and Time Kane ’82
In 2008, Beth George ’85 and Tim Kane ’82 pose outside their family-owned company, Spelt Right Inc., then located in Yarmouth, Maine, and now in Brooklyn. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College)
Substituting the delicious grain called spelt for its cousin wheat was among the dietary changes that cured serious behavioral and digestive problems for George and Kane’s son, Spencer.
Then word got out about George’s tasty spelt bagels, and now fast-growing Spelt Right is available throughout Maine, including at Bates’ dining Commons. George oversees baking and distribution, while Maine College of Art VP Kane is Spelt Right’s bookkeeper and webmaster.
George, a lawyer, is sharply critical of the food-industrial complex. “Things that are not food that are put in foods — that are put there for profit and not for nourishment — are really hurting our children,” she says.
Multimedia
- Tour the Spelt Right Bakery (audio)
- Why George chose spelt over wheat (audio)
- “S-P-E-L-T” spells business (audio)
This story was published in 2008.