In Our Fall 2016 Issue

LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHER

Wisconsin: The Perfect Place to Celebrate Fall

Dear Reader,

I’m a fall baby. It’s not that I don’t devour the hell out a tomato sandwich, or grilled corn that’s been dipped into a paint can full of butter at the State Fair. I look forward to these foods, voraciously, every year. You know that saying, “doing something like it’s going out of style?” Well, in summer, I eat like certain foods are going out of season … because they are. Each week, I played Iron Chef with my CSA from Pinehold Gardens, sneaking vegetables into breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. I couldn’t keep up with the abundance, but I loved trying.

The changing rhythm of the seasons is comforting to me, and Wisconsin is the perfect place to celebrate fall with food, drink and activities. The wind will soon get colder and the days even shorter. We’ll need denser food and thicker drinks to ready ourselves for the winter (or, at least, that’s what we’ll tell ourselves). Braising, basting and baking replace grilling and chilling. Porters and stouts replace pilsners. When planning your menus, or going out to explore the world around you, let local be your guide. Try something new this season!

You can “do it yourself” with recipes for homemade yogurt, lassi and labne, or try your hand at mixing four new-to-you old-fashioneds. The humble cabbage roll gets the haute treatment, courtesy of Sandy D’Amato. You could travel by tummy. Go veg-heavy with a few profiled produce-loving restaurants in town. Grab your bike and a beer with our On the Road feature. Learn more about how to save heritage breeds of livestock by eating them in Vintage Eats. Hope you’re hungry! We have these stories and more.

A final note: Since winter of last year, we’ve been honoring local heroes—members of our food community who, through their work, sourcing and advocacy, have made a significant impact on the local food movement. This summer, our food community lost a true hero.

Steve Ehlers was one of the first to champion our magazine, even when it was still just an unfunded idea I was trying to pull off the ground. As we were getting ready to release our summer issue in May 2013, I received a call from Steve saying that Larry’s Market wanted to support us by advertising. As editor-in-chief, I knew that Larry’s was already being featured on our editorial side, so I told Steve that I was more comfortable talking about advertising after the feature had run. I later found out that, in the meantime, Steve made many calls on our behalf, encouraging others to support us and lauding our integrity.

This, and the Local Heroes feature in this issue, are just a couple of personal testaments to Steve’s kindness and commitment to local food; his friends and colleagues undoubtedly have countless more stories to tell. We miss you, Steve. This issue is dedicated to you.

-Jen Ede, Publisher/Editor-in-Chief