124318 Tue Jul 05 12:30:14 -0700 2005 11 8 Midwest 0 675131 Folks on ChowHound were so helpful during my previous research trips, I thought I'd try again. I am writing a book, to be published later this year by UI Press, about people in the Midwest who are living Slow Food's ideals in their everyday lives (whether they are members or not). Thus far, for example, I have visited with Noreen Warnock of the Greater Columbus Foodshed Alliance, seen an organic brewery in Ann Arbor, and watched blue cheese being made in Cresco, Iowa. I have found many other fascinating stories as well. Now it is time for me hit the great plains. My next trip, July 11-18, will take me through Nebraska and the Dakotas, as well as upstate MN. Who is out there with a good "Slow Food" story that needs telling? I really appreciate any leads y'all might have. Tue Jul 05 12:30:14 -0700 2005 0 Kurt Michael Friese 1 675135 Hi - I haven't joined, but, I've heard that one of the Slow Food organizers in Duluth, MN is the lady that runs Coco's To Geaux restaurant (218) 740-3039 (I think her name is Coco, makes sense). She would likely be a good resource for you. If you go to our farmer's market (Wed. and Saturday -- 7:30 a.m. - 11:30 or so) in Duluth (on 14th and 3rd), you'll find a gouda-making family. I think they use raw milk from their pasture-fed cows to make their lovely cheeses (I think their name is "Green Pastures"). Another place to check out would be Russ Kendall's Smoke House, up the north shore toward Two Harbors - they supposedly have the best smoked fish in the area -- lots of types -- haven't tried it (vegetarian). Also, if you are into Wisconsin at all, there is a new bakery in tiny, tiny Herbster, about half way from Duluth to Bayfield -- a retired doctor started up a small bread company (sourdough??). Near there is a tiny winery that sells types of mead. Their name has "Winter" in it, I think. We also have a small specialty brewery in Duluth at the Fitger's complex on Superior street. Great food, great beer, homemade rootbeer, too. Also in Duluth, there is Talmadge Farms, who make lovely jams and other canned goods. They are often at the farmer's market, and sell through some of our local groceries. Also, you'll find some fine maple syrup and wild rice from some of the native people who live in the area (the hand-harvested, wood parched wild rice - very pale green/beige compared to the store-bought black colored rices). We also have a wonderful/famous cookbook author in Duluth -- Beatrice Ojakangas, who has many fantastic cookbooks, and has been on the "Baking with Julia" TV show, showing how to make Danish Pastries, and was on Martha Stewart show teaching about the Finnish "coffee table" food traditions. As you might have guessed, she specializes in Scandinavian foods, a big thing up here. There are also some fabulous lodges along the lake and up the Gunflint trail that are famous for their food or settings... some that come to mind: Naniboujou Lodge past Grand Marais (on the Historic Register), Gunflint Lodge on the Gunflint Trail, Burntside Lodge (aslo on the Historic Register) in Ely on the Boundary Waters. Ely has a blueberry festival every year. Ely was also home to a local legend, Dorothy Molter, the "rootbeer lady" - quite a story. You can still buy rootbeer (presumably made to her recipe). There are also a lot of historic food traditions in the mining areas of the Iron Range, because of the different ethnic groups that settled in the area to work the mines - one of the specialties is potica (po teet za), which you may know about - a pastry of very thin dough rolled around and around a walnut filling. It's delicious. Here in Duluth, the ladies of St. George Serbian Orthodox Church sell this as a fund-raiser (219) 626-1856. Pasties are another local/Iron Range specialty, as it was a food for the miners. "Minnesota Ethnic Foods" might be a good source for regional recipes/specialties -- recently reprinted. Good luck. Sure you'll have a great trip seeking delicious things out. Tue Jul 05 13:24:06 -0700 2005 675131 0 JennBenn 2 675136 Thanks for all that, very useful. Yes, I know Arlene and will be visiting her. I hope to hear that you have joined Slow Food by then. In Duluth, I am especially interested in finding any remnants of the commercial fishing industry. Is anyone fishing commercially from there anymore? Tue Jul 05 15:19:43 -0700 2005 675135 0 Kurt Michael Friese 3 675150 Hi. I hear that the Park Bench restaurant in Hermantown (next to Duluth) has great fish, and that they are a fishing family (unknown details) - you might give them a call: (218) 729-5087. Also, the Russ Kendall's Smoke House in Knife River is 218- 834-5995. They must get a lot of their fish locally, and probably would know which families are still doing the commercial fishing. Good luck! Wed Jul 06 21:33:54 -0700 2005 675136 0 JennBenn 1 675137 Here's a nice story about the Iron Range food written up a while back in the Star Tribune. Link: http://www.startribune.com/stories/438/3084708.html Tue Jul 05 15:53:46 -0700 2005 675131 0 shoo-bee-doo 1 675141 Check out the Lithuanian bakery in Omaha and watch them make a torte (from their website): "The creation of this masterpiece evolves into a lengthy 3 day process. Painstaking care is taken in combining 8 wafer layers with butter creams of vanilla and lemon extracts - the middle layer is laced with a delicate hint of apricot." Link: http://www.lithuanianbakery.com/ Tue Jul 05 18:26:14 -0700 2005 675131 0 joypirate 1 675187 Omaha: The Lithuanian Bakery Lincoln: Maggie's, as well as some farms of folks I'll be introduced to by Paul Rohrbaugh of NSAS and Kim Matthews of Community Crops Sioux City: The Floyd Blvd Market Rapid City: The Corn Exchange and Chef MJ Adams Fargo: The Hotel Donaldson and HoDo Restaurant Ponsford, MN: White Earth Land Recovery Project and Winona LaDuke Hibbing, MN: Several people and places looking for the best Potics, Pasties & Porketta in the Iron Range Duluth: Coffee Tasting with Slow Food Lake Superior at the Red Mug Commercial Fishing with Steve Dahl Minneapolis: Tea with Lucia Watson Interview with Lynn Rosetto Kasper Strawberry Point, IA: Mulefoot hogs with Kevin Powell Of course, I'll report back to all y'all. Peace, kmf Sat Jul 09 17:51:08 -0700 2005 675131 0 Kurt M. Friese 2 675189 Really cool. Let us know when the book comes out. One thing I forgot to tell you about potica on the Iron Range -- Several months ago, they filmed a movie directed by Niki Caro on the range with Charlize Theron, Woody Haraldson, and Sissy Spacek. At the Slovenska Dom (Slovenian Hall)in Chisholm, the ladies were making potica for their annual fundraiser. Word of this got out to the movie team, especially Sissy Spacek. She insisted she learn how to make potica, so she joined the women in making it. They filmed this for the unnamed movie to depict the spirit of the range. There's an article about this in the Hibbing Daily Tribune. Here's the link. Link: http://www.hibbingmn.com/placed/index.php?story_id=193575&view=text Sat Jul 09 20:53:16 -0700 2005 675187 0 shoo-bee-doo 3 675190 Whoops, I guess it was apple strudel they made. I had heard it was potica. Well, it's a good story anyway. :-). It well could have been potica. It should have been. Sat Jul 09 20:56:07 -0700 2005 675189 0 shoo-bee-doo 1 675558 Thanks everybody for all the tips! Here's a summation of the trip: Kim and I just returned from a marvelous roadtrip through parts of the country we had never seen before. In order to research my forthcoming book, "Slow Food in the Heartland: A Cook's Tour," we drove through Nebraska, The Dakotas, and Minnesota seeking stories of people who are living Slow Food's ideals (whether they are actual members of the Movement or not). This was the last leg of my 13 state tour finding subjects for the book. For my purposes, the "Heartland" is defined as the 13-state triangle that runs from Ohio to Oklahoma to North Dakota. We found treasures along the way, met wonderful people, and truly had a delightful time. Kim says I have to keep it short, so here's an overview (if you want more, well, you'll have to buy the book). In Nebraska, we had a great lunch at Maggie's Vegetarian Vittles, a tiny place that sells lots of local, organic food. Maggie is a Slow Food member. We met Ingrid Kirst, who runs a gardening program for immigrants and refugees called Community CROPS. Paul Rohrbaugh of the Nebraska Sustainable Agriculture Society introduced us to Doug Dittman at Branched Oak Farm where they raise grass-fed Angus beef and Jersey dairy cows. Over yonder in Rapid City, SD, which we visited after touring the Badlands (everybody should do that at least once), we met Zita Kwartek, an organic farmer who raises vegetables for MJ Adams restaurant, The Corn Exchange. MJ is another Slow Food member. From there, it was up through some of the prettiest grassland you can imagine, one of the last places in America to still have absolutely no cellular service, and then back east to Fargo, ND. Here we found, I swear to you, one of the best hotels I've ever had the pleasure to visit. You may not ever have a reason to go to Fargo, but the Hotel Donaldson is worth the drive all by itself. It's 100 years old, totally and completely remodeled, full of fantastic art, and has a great restaurant called HoDo. HoDo was started by Andrea Baumgartner (another Slow Food member) and is now quite ably run by Chef Eric Inscho. A short drive from Fargo is the barely-on-the-map town of Ponsford, MN, home of the White Earth Land Recovery Project, brainchild of Winona LaDuke. WELRP is working to reclaim native land according to the original treaty that formed the White Earth Reservation, a vast majority of which has been usurped. Ms. LaDuke, besides running this massive project, running a store, a coffee roasterie, a horse farm, writing several books and occasionally running for Vice President of the United States (yep, Nader's running mate twice), is also a Terra Madre Delegate and winner of the 2003 Slow Food Award. The we went to Duluth Minnesota, and were hosted by local Slow Food members Jim & Sharon Postance. We enjoyed a coffee "cupping" at the Red Mug, across the bridge in Superior, WI. We then went on to meet Steve Dahl, who makes his living fishing Lake Superior for herring and ciscoes in a 17-foot open boat. He introduced us to Russ Kendall's Smoked Fish in Knife River, where I tasted the most amazing sugared lake trout you can imagine. Not finished yet, we drove down to the twin cities to visit our friend (and last year's Field to Family guest chef) Lucia Watson. Her legendary restaurant on 31st is about to expand to include a bakery, called simply "Go." Slow Food member? Yes. We also had the pleasure of spending our afternoon with Lynn Rossetto Kasper, Host of Public Radio's "The Splendid Table" and another former F2F guest. The 3 of us enjoyed some tasty Thai food on University Avenue, then had coffee and great gelato at Cafe Crema. Yep, you guessed it, she's a Slow Food member too. On the way home, one last stop in Strawberry Point, IA, for a visit with Kevin Powell. Kevin is one of the last growers of a very rare breed of hog called the Mulefoot. Wanna know more? You'll just have to buy the book. As we left, Kevin told me he was joining Slow Food. Why haven't you joined yet? Sat Jul 23 14:24:07 -0700 2005 675131 0 Kurt M.Friese 2 675568 So when will the book be published? It all sounds great. Sat Jul 23 22:57:04 -0700 2005 675558 0 shoo-bee-doo 3 675732 Book goes to the publisher Sept. 1, frm there it's up to them, but it kinda looks like it'll be in the Spring. Peace, kmf Sat Jul 30 20:24:22 -0700 2005 675568 0 Kurt Michael Friese