Pinecraft Cookbook Author Balances TV Appearances With Mennonite Faith

Editor's Note: This is the third in a series of stories on Sarasota's Amish and Mennonite village Pinecraft dealing with an increased demand of television coverage.

If anyone knows what it's like to be in front of the camera, and at ease, it's Sherry Gore.

The renowned Pinecraft cook and author is both a Renaissance woman and a warm personality with media as she promotes her latest cookbook, Simply Delicious. The book received favorable reviews from New York Times bestselling authors. And yes, even a part on a documentary series in 2012 called Amish: Out of Order on National Geographic.

She is expected to return in front of the camera this spring for a Today show segment on NBC to cook with correspondent Sara Haines. Haines appears during the fourth hour with Hoda Kotb and Kathy Lee Gifford. Scenes around Pinecraft are expected to be shot this month.

"There's a difference between sharing and exploiting—a big difference," Gore said, as she makes sure that her potential morning television appearance doesn't cause any undue stress in Sarasota's Amish and Mennonite village. 

Gore's story is attractive for this wave of documentaries and reality shows depicting an undercurrent of Amish and Mennonite culture and those who leave the church. Why? Because she joined the Beachy Amish Mennonite church in her early 30s, seeking structure.

That helped match her up with a teenaged girl, Michaela, on Amish: Out of Order, where the young girl contemplated joining the Amish church. In that situation, the principal subject, Mose Gingerich, made a few calls to find a family for Michaela to stay with and a location. The production company footed the bill for the trip, but their involvement ended there. 

Gore, who was compensated for her appearance, speaks glowingly of Stick Figure Productions' documentary approach of the show. However, despite her relatively short screen time, she is approached by strangers, and not every interaction is a pleasant one. She blames that on the rival shows and what they portray because people don't differentiate from show to show or what's a documentary and what's a "reality" show.

"I get approached all the time—'Oh, I know all about you. I watched Breaking Amish; I know how you live,'" she says, "No, you don't know how I live. You have no clue."

Breaking Amish, a show with four young adults with a Mennonite or Amish background living out their wild adventures, spent about a month in Pinecraft to film for its second season, due on TLC in May. Gore did not participate in the show.

The Amish and Mennonite community in Pinecraft have their own assumptions of the media, too, said Gore, who also writes for The Budget and Pinecraft Pauper Amish and Mennonite newspapers.

"They're linking anything that's decent and good like PBS and BBC and National Geographic, and there's not that discernment of which production company is good or not," she said. "Right now there's this overview of if there's a TV camera, we don't want anything to do with it, where before they wouldn't have minded as much if someone was doing a little documentary." 

Pinecraft blogger and photographer Katie Troyer said as much to Patch this week, relaying how producers for a PBS documentary were asked to leave Pinecraft Park. And to have that type of reaction is extreme for Pinecraft, which Troyer described as a relaxed community. 

"Even the Amish that are members down here, are of the most open, liberal Amish that I've ever known," Troyer said.  

For Gore, she is admittedly caught in the middle of being media friendly, appearing on TV, and balancing the privacy desired by the Amish and Mennonite residents and snow birds. 

Gore receives offers and pitches both directly and through her book agent in New York, and weighs heavily what to say yes to, and has said no to some lucrative offers because they didn't feel right.

"The people in the village knew that I could be trusted to never exploit. I have been approached by production companies from both Hollywood and New York to participate in reality shows that I did not think were not conducive to my own Christian life or to the people in the village," she said. "While the pay would have been high, I'm not a Judas."

The impacts of all the national Pinecraft coverage won't be known until the segments, shows and documentaries air. While Gore can't be there for everyone in Pinecraft to guide them through media inquiries, she at least tries her best when she's asked about the people, the culture and the food here.

"I just want to be a good example," she said.