Within the last two decades, much has changed in the world of food.
Farm-to-table dining has become best practice in restaurants across the
country. Farmers have diversified their crops to meet the needs of both
creative chefs and increasingly adventurous home cooks. Consumers have
an increasing interest in connecting with those who make and grow their
food. Meanwhile, chefs have played a crucial role in bridging the gap
between the field and the fork. Although states with longer growing
seasons tend to take the credit for their ability to heed the call for
local, Wisconsin has actually been at the forefront of the movement. And
a great deal of credit for that goes to the state's agricultural
prowess. According to the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and
Consumer Protection, the state is the number-one producer of
cranberries, ginseng roots, whey and snap beans for processing. It's
also the country's largest producer of cheese (and fourth-largest in the
world), with nearly 1,200 licensed cheese makers who produce more than
six hundred types, styles and varieties of cheese, nearly double that of
any other state. Wisconsin ranks second in organic production and boasts
a plethora of both cherry and apple orchards. And farms here harvest
potatoes from sixty-three thousand acres of land, ranking the state
third in potato production. Despite the shortcomings of a relatively
brief growing season, the chefs in Wisconsin have capitalized on the
state's bounty, offering increasingly localized seasonal menus and
extending the harvest through active preservation. The book aims to tell
the tale of Wisconsin agriculture, not only through stories about the
farmers who provide the wealth of vegetables, dairy and livestock needed
to sustain local restaurants, but also through the recipes that take
those products and weave magic into them.
