Whether it’s s’mores in the backyard, burgers and ears of corn on the grill, or fresh-caught fish when you’re camping, there’s something about fresh air and a fire that makes food taste better. Two Fire Table wants to bring that feeling to your next gathering—and you won’t even have to build a bonfire.
Two Fire Table is the dream child of Sarah Rennie, an advocate for communal meals, seasonal eating, and wood-fire cooking. But she’s also savvy enough to know that while many people may savor the experience of eating outdoors, most of us would prefer to have her handle the tongs.
Two Fire Table’s offerings are literally soup to nuts. Tell Rennie where, when, and how many, and she will develop a tailored menu—appetizer, local protein, two seasonal sides, and dessert. The day of, she shows up with all the cooking equipment (custom-made for her, including her own portable fire pit), as well as dishes, utensils, linens, glassware, and even tents. It’s the best combination of camping and cuisine.
Rennie’s path began with culinary school in Asheville, North Carolina, and an internship at Farm & Sparrow, a wood-fired bakery and mill where the emphasis is on local produce and regional grains.
“I learned about seasonal eating, about using your farmers’ market, and about cooking in the most authentic way,” Rennie says. “Cooking over a fire, you have to be more attuned to what you’re doing throughout the process—it’s very focused; you can’t be thinking about anything else.”
From Farm & Sparrow, Rennie went to Sub Rosa Wood-Fired Bakery in Richmond, and stayed for six years, eventually becoming kitchen manager (“It was the best experience; I was baking my heart out,” she says). Rennie became the bakery’s croissant master, and worked with local farmers to create pastries using seasonal ingredients from strawberries and pears to jalapeños.
Eventually, Rennie’s husband wanted to start his own business as a fly-fishing guide, which meant being closer to the mountains, and they bought a house in Scottsville.
“I’d always enjoyed being outdoors—I’m a horse person, I’ve been riding since I was 4,” Rennie says, and she began thinking about being a trail guide. She took a summer job out West to learn about trail-guiding, then came a trip to Argentina to learn more about campfire cooking. Amazed by one rider who brought a packet of herbs for the fish cooking over the fire, Rennie recalls, she began to think about combining her love of the outdoors with her devotion to seasonal and conscious cooking.
“I wondered how I could translate this [outdoor cooking experience] and move it around,” she says. “I wanted it to be portable. I wanted to share my perspective on communal eating with others.”
Rennie began practicing.—“I cooked many, many chickens in my backyard”—to learn about timing, when to turn the bird, how to achieve crispy skin and well-cooked but moist flesh. Her husband was more than happy to taste-test the experiments.
Part of the fun of creating Two Fire table, Rennie says, was figuring out how to make moveable wood-fire cooking work. She found metal craftsmen who could make customized equipment—from grills, spits, and tripods to hanging saucepans and Dutch ovens—that she could transport in her car and set up on site. She also developed a network of butchers, suppliers, and farmers because “it always helps to know where your food comes from.”
In 2019, she launched Two Fire Table. “When I first started, I would build a ‘feeder fire’ from which I started others—that’s where the name came from.” Rennie has created meals for family events, weddings, and social gatherings for groups from bird hunters to chefs. She’s got the logistics down—chopping and ingredient prep, including making sauces and dressings, is done ahead of time. Food is served family-style, everyone around the tables passing dishes, because for Rennie that’s an integral element of the experience. “For me, this is about connection—creating community around the fire.”
