Alumna profile: Karoline Boehm-Goodnick
by Erin Carlman Weber
When Karoline Boehm-Goodnick took a sharp detour from her plan to be a lawyer, she encountered some accurate pessimists.
“Everyone was so negative when I told them I was going to culinary school. And everything they said—that you’re not going to make any money, that you always have to work holidays—it’s all true.”
But the Gastronomy graduate isn’t complaining. She made a good move in abandoning a future of court briefs, depositions, and juries to pursue her current life as the general manager of a bakery who moonlights as a food writer, photographer, and food stylist. Her Gastronomy studies took her to Argentina for five months, where she researched malbec for her thesis. And now, back stateside and living in San Francisco with her husband, she has a hectic but happy life, mixing work in a professional kitchen with other food-related pursuits.
Boehm-Goodnick has her hands in a bit of everything at Mission Pie, a Bay Area bakeshop and café. She spends time in the kitchen, on administrative detail, and manages the front of house staff. She also occasionally runs classes for the public. With these educational efforts, she leans on her Gastronomy knowledge, using it to place food and drink in a larger cultural picture.
But for this culinary multitasker, Sheryl Julian’s food writing class was the most “monumental” part of her BU education. The course kick started her freelance writing and food styling work. Since then, she’s been a regular contributor to The Boston Globe and has written for several other publications and websites. She’s happy to be maintaining what she calls “the beauty of the balance,” moving her culinary and writing careers forward simultaneously.
And despite the occasionally chaotic nature of her various jobs, Boehm-Goodnick is sure she’s in the right place. “There’s nothing in this world I’d rather be doing. I’d die in an office setting,” she says.
Looks like law school would have been a bad move after all.
Keep up with Karoline on her blog, Karoline’s Kitchen.