Fried Walleye and Cherry Pie: Midwestern Writers on Food(At Table)

About the Book

With its corn by the acre, beef on the hoof, Quaker Oats, and Kraft Mac n' Cheese, the Midwest eats pretty well and feeds the nation on the side. But there's more to the midwestern kitchen and palate than the farm food and sizable portions the region is best known for beyond its borders. It is to these heartland specialties, from the heartwarming to the downright weird, that Fried Walleye and Cherry Pie invites the reader.

The volume brings to the table an illustrious gathering of thirty midwestern writers with something to say about the gustatory pleasures and peculiarities of the region. In a meditation on comfort food, Elizabeth Berg recalls her aunt's meatloaf. Stuart Dybek takes us on a school field trip to a slaughtering house, while Peter Sagal grapples with the ethics of pate. Parsing Cincinnati five-way chili, Robert Olmstead digresses into questions of Aztec culture. Harry Mark Petrakis reflects on owning a South Side Chicago lunchroom, while Bonnie Jo Campbell nurses a sweet tooth through a fudge recipe in the Joy of Cooking and Lorna Landvik nibbles her way through the Minnesota State Fair. These are just a sampling of what makes Fried Walleye and Cherry Pie-with its generous helpings of laughter, culinary confession, and information-an irresistible literary feast.

Table of Contents:
ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction
Midwestern Staples[1] In the Midwest, It’s MeatloafElizabeth Berg[2] Field TripsStuart Dybek[3] Easter Island AlmondineThom Jones[4] The Sandwich That Is ChicagoMichael Stern[5] Cincinnati Five-Way Chili: Still LegalRobert Olmstead[6] Corn in HeavenJacquelyn Mitchard[7] Let Them Eat PÂtÉPeter Sagal[8] High on the HogJon Yates[9] The Chef and the FarmerGale GandRecipe: Goat Cheese Panna Cotta with Caramelized Figs
Distant Cultures[10] Art’s LunchHarry Mark Petrakis[11] A Tale of Two TamalesCarol Mighton HaddixRecipe: Beef Brisket, Savory Cherry Compote, and JalapeÑo Cheese Tamale[12] Le Dog, Ann Arbor, MichiganJules Van Dyck-Dobos[13] The Night of the Rhubarb KuchenAnne DimockRecipes: Rhubarb Kram ; Rhubarb Kuchen with Almond Meringue[14] The Black MigrationDonna Pierce[15] Eat NowPhyllis Florin[16] The Door County Fish BoilPeggy WolffRecipes: White Gull Inn Door County Cherry Pie ; White Gull Inn Fish Boil Recipe for Home Cooks
Holidays, Fairs, and Events[17] Thrill FoodJohn Markus[18] Under the Checkered FlagMelanie Benjamin[19] Bicentennial PieTimothy Bascom[20] So You’ll Diet TomorrowLorna Landvik[21] Thanksgiving DinnerMary Kay ShanleyRecipe: Thanksgiving Stuffing with Cast-Iron Skillet Corn Bread
A Full Belly[22] The Tam-O-Shanter, Lincoln, NebraskaSherrie Flick[23] What Was ServedDouglas Bauer[24] TomorrowlandPeter Meehan[25] I’ll Eat ColumbusMolly O’Neill[26] On Cider, Cornmeal, and ComfortRobin MatherRecipe: Buttermilk Doughnuts with Cider Glaze
The Midwestern Sweet Tooth[27] The Great American Pie ExpeditionSue Hubbell[28] The Old SweetnessBonnie Jo CampbellRecipe: Fudge[29] The Little Cake Pan That CouldBonny WolfRecipes: Chocolate Pistachio Cake ; Ella Helfrich’s Tunnel of Fudge Cake[30] When a Pie Is More Than a PieJeremy JacksonRecipe: Mildred Jackson’s Lemon-y Cream PieSource Acknowledgments   

About the Author :
 Peggy Wolff has written on food and food culture for publications including the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Hartford Courant, and Orlando Sentinel. She is the food editor for REALIZE Magazine.  

Review :
"Fried biscuits, Creole-style spaghetti, carrot shavings in the Jell-O, and perfect peach cobbler - this is the food that haunts midwesterners throughout their lives, and it's inspired a collection of evocative essays by some of the region's most appealing writers." - Laura Shapiro, author of Something from the Oven: Reinventing Dinner in 1950s America "Fried Walleye and Cherry Pie - what an eyeful! I so enjoyed reading these personal accounts of midwestern foods and the stories they tell, which is food plus people, place, and history. As Peggy Wolff says at the start, food is not just food; it's the experience that counts - where you are and who you are with. And that is just what these stories are about, the bigger picture of food that makes its memory poignant and worth telling." - Deborah Madison, author of Vegetable Literacy "That very American impulse to claim ownership - and to define our separate experiences through food - is on full display in Peggy Wolff's Fried Walleye and Cherry Pie: Midwestern Writers on Food...Heartland natives will embrace the recipes"--nytimes.com, December 2013