From the Wagon: Bit Pruitt and Chuckwagon Culture

From cooking schools to feeding the Road to the Horse Retreat, Bit Pruitt keeps the coffee hot and the tradition intact.

There are plenty of ways to impress people with food. White tablecloths. Careful plating. 

That has never interested John “Bit” Pruitt. 

Pruitt is the chuckwagon cook behind From the Wagon, a business that brings camp-style Western cooking to events, ranch gatherings and immersive cooking schools. The food draws people in, but Pruitt says the real goal has always been something quieter: slowing people down enough to understand the culture behind it. 

“We’re not trying to dress it up,” Pruitt says. “If somebody comes expecting fancy, they’re probably in the wrong place. What we’re offering is the way it was done and the reason it was done that way.” 

For Pruitt, chuckwagon cooking is function and tradition rolled into one. 

“We try not to boogie up the wagon,” Pruitt says. “We keep it pretty raw. Cast iron, firewood and doing our best to keep it correct.” 

Finding His Way to the Wagon

Pruitt did not grow up on a ranch, but he says he gravitated early toward Western people and Western work. That pull led him into cowboy jobs and a life where skills are learned through observation and repetition rather than instruction. 

“I was always watching,” Pruitt says. “You learn real quick that if you pay attention, people will teach you without ever saying a word.” 

His introduction to chuckwagon cooking came in the mid-1990s on a ranch in Henrietta, Texas. The landowner, a generational rancher who still owned his grandfather’s wagon, was injured and needed help catering an event. Pruitt had never cooked that way before, but he agreed to step in. 

“I know you like to cook,” Pruitt remembers being told. “He needs some help. He’s cooking off a chuckwagon.” 

That first weekend turned into years of cooking, traveling and catering across Texas and Oklahoma. Pruitt watched a seasoned wagon cook manage every part of the operation. 

“It wasn’t just about the food,” Pruitt says. “It was how he moved, how he stayed organized, how he thought three steps ahead. You realize real quick the cooking is only part of it.” 

Chuckwagon cooking, Pruitt learned, requires precision disguised as simplicity. 

“You don’t get second chances,” he says. “If you mess up your heat or your timing, you feel it. There was nothing easy about it.” 

A Cooking School Built on History 

After years of cooking at events and gatherings, Pruitt and his partner began offering something more immersive: a chance for others to learn the craft firsthand. From the Wagon’s cooking school is designed for people who want the real thing, not a polished version of it. 

Pruitt and his partner host schools in the spring and fall when schedules allow. Though the class itself runs three and a half days, Pruitt says each school requires closer to 10 days of preparation and cleanup. 

“There’s a lot that happens before anyone ever shows up,” Pruitt says. “The wagon doesn’t just roll out and magically work.” 

The format runs Thursday through Sunday. Students learn Dutch oven fundamentals, open-fire cooking, heat management using coals and how to read food without timers or thermometers. Just as important, Pruitt says, is understanding why chuckwagon cooking developed the way it did. 

“We spend a lot of time on the why,” he says. “Why this tool, why this method, why this order. Once people understand that, everything else starts to make sense.” 

Pruitt emphasizes that chuckwagon cooking was built around feeding crews efficiently. 

“It had to work every time,” Pruitt says. “Nobody cared if it looked fancy. They cared if it filled them up and held them through the day.” 

The school ends with a graduation test. On Saturday night, students cook a protein, a side and a dessert, then serve the meal to 25 to 35 guests. 

“When you’re cooking for strangers, the stakes feel different,” Pruitt says. “And when they come back and tell you it was good, that means something.”

Cooking for Road to the Horse Retreat

This year, Pruitt’s wagon rolled into a setting that made even him pause: the first Road to the Horse Retreat, held September 19–21, 2025, at The Ranch at NRS in Decatur, Texas. 

From the Wagon served as the official food provider for the retreat, feeding clinicians, staff and participants throughout the event. Pruitt says what stood out most was not just the size of the gathering, but the quality of the horsemen involved. 

“We can hear what’s going on while we’re cooking,” Pruitt says. “I remember stopping and thinking, man, I forgot about that. I’m glad I heard him say that.” 

Between meals, Pruitt found himself learning alongside everyone else. 

“That’s the kind of thing you don’t expect,” he says. “You go there to do a job, and you leave better for it.” 

Pruitt describes the experience as humbling, especially being trusted with a role that helped keep the retreat running smoothly. 

“How are we lucky enough to be here cooking for some of the best of the best?” Pruitt says. “People came from all over the world. To be trusted with that part of the event means a lot.” 

Honoring the Culture

Pruitt speaks like someone trying to honor the culture that welcomed him. 

“I give God complete glory,” Pruitt says. “I’m just grateful He’s allowed us to make a living in a culture we care about, and we take pride in doing our best to keep it correct.” 

That mindset carried through when From the Wagon was named a Top Three Finalist by the Academy of Western Arts. Pruitt accepted the recognition quietly. 

“It’s humbling,” he says. “When people taste food cooked in the open and realize it can still be that good, you can see it on their faces. That’s the reward.” 

If Pruitt has a mission, it remains unchanged. 

Cast iron. Good food. And a wagon that still looks like a wagon.