While many students get their food from quick runs to Taco Bell or McDonald’s, David Grigsby puts his meals together the old-fashioned way: baking bread in a brick oven.

“[My father and I] built the oven by ourselves, by hand,” Grigsby, junior, said. “It was his idea in the beginning, as a family plan that we would build [the oven] for everyday cooking.”

According to Grigsby, building the oven was a challenge, but by the time it was completed this summer, the hard work paid off.

“We had family over this summer, and we all baked pizzas together,” Grigsby said. “It was good to be recognized for all the hard work and experience food in kind of a unique way.”

In addition to bread, which Grigsby and his father make in white, wheat and rye in the form of baguettes and pizza, the Grigsbys have also utilized their oven to make soup, cornbread, kabobs, fried eggs and to roast chicken, pork and tomatoes.

Though the bread coming out of Grigsby’s backyard is sold to neighbors and even Kirkwood police, Grigsby insists his throwback style of preparing food is not intended for profit.

“It’s really more of a hobby,” Grigsby said. “It’s kind of becoming a little tradition, because every weekend it’s an experience to have with my family, and my father in particular.”

Although Grigsby said artisan bread-making is a dying art, he has been noticed for his work by The October issue of Feast Magazine, and by his customers.

“We’re a unique little thing in Glendale,” Grigsby said. “People just enjoy the quality of our bread.”