In Our Summer 2014 Issue

Last Updated June 01, 2014
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summer 2014 cover

LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHER 

Dear Reader,

This summer, Edible Milwaukee goes back to the source.

For some of us, it’s hard to know where to start with food. We’ve been eating it every day, multiple times a day, for our entire lives – but lately, food is taking on new meaning. These days it has to. We all eat, but the number of farmers in the U.S. is dwindling rapidly. We are increasingly familiar with exotic ingredients, but we don’t know where they come from or what they require to produce. Cooking shows are everywhere, but no one cooks anymore. There must be something beyond taste that draws us in to food.

I learned these statistics and more at this year’s Edible Institute in New York City. Every year, Edible publishers from across the U.S. and Canada come together to dream about the future of food and media. At the end of the publishers’ conference, Edible Communities holds the EDDY Awards, honoring the best editorial and advertising from within our network of over 85 publications. This year, our fledgling magazine proudly took home one of them: Best Editorial – Food or Cooking Focused, for our Winter 2013 article, “Where the Wild Foods Are.”

After the EDDY Awards, the conference opens up to the public and the party really begins. Writer Mark Bittman led off with a keynote, suggesting that the single most important thing people can do to improve their diets is to cook more. That it’s not enough to produce more food locally – it’s equally important to distribute it effectively through hubs, co-ops, and grocery stores. He reminded us that the best human diet has yet to be determined, but the worst is the absence of food. And another basic claim: without new farmers, who will grow what we eat? Hearing these food leaders was energizing not for the questions they asked, but for their pragmatic approach to answering them.

While researching Edible Milwaukee’s summer edition, we seem to have come up with one possible answer: try going back to the source. In this issue, we learn more about Groundwork Milwaukee, a program introducing kids to gardens throughout the city. We join the buzz around urban beehives. We get to know three local food and restaurant mentors, whose renown lies not only in their own accomplishments, but also in what they’ve enabled others to achieve. We travel out to Pinn-Oak Ridge Farm in Delavan to explore a lamb farm with its own processing facility on site. On the beverage side, we delve into hops, the ingredient that hits you in the face every time you take a sip, but until recently was nearly impossible to find as a Wisconsin crop. Lastly, we have an op-ed about the primary ingredient required for everything: water. Like many of our resources, it’s something Milwaukee has in abundance, yet we are largely ignorant of its importance.

Whether your goal in eating is to improve your health, to bring your family around the table, to help invest dollars in our local economy, or a combination of all of the above, dig deeper into the roots of your food.

-Jen Ede, Publisher/Editor-in-Chief

The Bees' Knees, Needs, and More

bees
We have co-evolved with bees for millennia to a point of co-dependency. Recognizing that means helping, not hurting, the hives that help us feed.

Growing Grain Gold for Beer

sweet mullets brewing company
Wisconsin is today virtually synonymous with the consumption of beer. Interest in local ingredients for local craft beer is driving a resurgence in the cultivation of hops and barley for brewing in...

When Students Become Teachers

mentors tony mo
The building of relationships between food mentors and their charges is critical to mutual success. Perhaps most surprising is the depth and breadth of the impact these food mentors have had locally...

Raising Lamb, Delivering Locally

lambs
Darlene and Steve Pinnow, have been direct marketing their gourmet lamb to restaurants, supermarkets and the general public for 16 years. Their operation continues to grow by word of mouth.

Can Urban Gardening Fill Need for Farmers?

urban gardening
Groundwork Milwaukee’s Young Farmer Program, is an ongoing initiative working to carve out a profitable economic niche while empowering a racially-diverse generation of future farmers.

What is This Pie?

homemade pie
All is not lost! The key to successful pie making is understanding our pie forefathers and the individual elements that combine to create heavenly pie from the crust to the filling.

Old Fashioned, Wisconsin's (Un)Official State Cocktail

old fashioned
The classical formula for the Old Fashioned is nearly perfect, but Wisconsin iconoclasts have de- and re-constructed this drink to suit nearly any palate.

Making Gardens a Magical Space

garden map
Together in the garden, families can collaborate on special projects together, assigning age-appropriate tasks. The garden then becomes a place for everyone to work and enjoy the literal fruits of...

How Much Water Do You Eat?

David Garman
Much as the “carbon footprint” has helped us recognize our individual contribution to carbon dioxide levels in our atmosphere, the concept of virtual water indicates our “water footprint.”

Outpost Opens New Mequon Store

outpost store
Outpost Natural Foods Co-op's new store features a water recycling system, an electric charging station, and a rain garden to produce fruit, vegetables, and herbs for the in-store cafe.

Food For Thought: Ashley's Bar-B-Que

ashley's bbq
Darnell Ashley, owner of Ashley's Bar-B-Que reflects on how food is what ultimately ends up bringing people together. After all, everyone loves BBQ.

Dig On For Victory

victory garden
For the sixth year, the Victory Garden Initiative’s Victory Garden Blitz is moving grass and growing food, this year installing 548 more raised bed gardens in yards across Greater Milwaukee –...

Notable Feedback - Summer 2014

Campione Bakery
In our spring issue feature on ghost signs (On the Road: “Faded Food Signs from Earlier Times”) we asked our readers for feedback on our photographs, as well as any signs they may come across...