When you go on holiday to Provence or Athens, one of the things on the agenda may be a food tour. It makes sense, since food is such a clear articulation of a region’s culture and values and eating is a vital daily activity, what better way to engage yourself in the place you are vitising?

So in Provence, you’d eat a lot of fresh, bright citrus flavors, rataouille, and bouillabaisse with fresh aromatic herbs. In Greece, you’d see a lot of fresh fish, lamb, lemon, and parsley.

Now those are two pretty romantic food destinations. What if you’re in Central Wisconsin?

It’s a meat paradise: deer, cow, and pig so fresh that they might have been killed in the back yard - roasted, grilled, or pan fried - and slathered in brown gravy, but Fridays are for fish frys - Catholics, what are you gonna do?  There’s a lot of fresh fruit but curiously not a whole lot of fresh vegetables.  The flavors are not generally bright, which is not a bad thing, it’s just how the food is there; to demand “bright flavors” would be culturally imperialistic.
Here’s an non-exhaustive list of all the goodies we ate while we were there:
Venison (as steaks in gravy, as bacon and as preserved venison and pork jerky. the venison was killed by Mary Milan’s dad or one of her brothers)
Fresh sugar snap peas (from the vegetable patch)
Raspberries (from the many raspberry patches - fresh, jam, and two bomb ass pie)
Fresh cheese curds
Deep fried cheese curds (from Wagner’s Dairy Treet)
The Bomb Ass Cole Slaw (from Wagner’s Dairy Treet)
Deep fried pickles (from that Brew Pub in Marshfield)
Steak
Beef tips
Fried chicken
Roast pork
Cantaloupe
Watermelon
Corn on the cob
Triple berry cream tart
Roasted Marshmellows

As we ate our way through the Farm (and I mean, we ate like there was no tomorrow because all that stuff was soooo good) I was reminded about how culturally imperialistic I must have come off as when early in our courtship, I sent Mary Milan back home with a recipe for Seared Venison with Chili Tangerine Glaze, Goat Cheese Mashed Potatoes, and Garlic Spinach. She had been talking a big game about how she was dating an ex-chef and how she was going to cook one of my recipes for them. It was supposed to be a graceful introduction to the farm.

It went over like a big plate of raw chicken. The food drove her little sister to tears.

Seriously. She cried. I think that’s why, to this very day, she harbors ill feelings toward me.  For example, she chased me around the house trying to hit me with a fly swatter. I will give her credit though, she also swang a broom at a calf with ring worm who was trying to bite my ass. Come to think of it, she also tried to punch and kick another calf in the head.

Dude. This little 3-foot 4-year old is violent…

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