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Monday, February 12, 2007 at 3:19 p.m.

Read more: State, Community

ENJOY THE TASTE OF MICHGAN’S FOOD CULTURE AT MICHIGANFOODWAYS.ORG

Public invited to participate in recipe/story contest, learn about Michigan’s food culture as part of Key Ingredients Michigan Foodways statewide exhibit tour in 2007-2008

           (LANSING)-----The Michigan Humanities Council (MHC) today announced it has unveiled a website, michiganfoodways.org, as a cultural resource and interactive foodways guide for all Michiganians. Michiganfoodways.orgwas designed to help raise the awareness of Michigan’s diverse food culture as part of an effort directed at the 2007-2008 tour of a pair of exhibits, Key Ingredients and Michigan Foodways. The tour will start on May 25, 2007 when the MHC will bring the Smithsonian exhibit, Key Ingredients: America By Food and a companion exhibit, Michigan Foodways, to Chelsea, followed by Calumet, Cheboygan, Whitehall, Frankenmuth, and Dundee. In addition, the Council will assist local communities in developing their own kiosks and other local programs.

           “The Michigan Humanities Council is pleased to offer this website to the people of Michigan to help them learn about the history and culture of the food we prepare and eat,” stated Janice Fedewa, executive director of the MHC. “Not only does it have interesting historical perspectives of food in our state and many local food businesses, Michiganfoodways.org also provides interactive features to help engage the public in dialogue about what our food culture means to us.”

           Michigan is best described as having local specialties instead of having its own cuisine. Michigan foodwaysare the foods of many communities, ethnicities, and occupations that constitute the Great Lakes state. For instance, what really is the typical Michigan meal? In Calumet it can consist of a pasty; down the road in Negaunee, one can find a cudighi sandwich. Those in the thumb area would consider the Bay Port Fish Sandwich for a meal. In the summer, the Traverse City region overflows with cherry pie and cherry sausage. People can always find open a Coney Island restaurant in metropolitan Detroit, something unique to our state. Many Catholics in Monroe consider the muskrat as a fish. And, to celebrate the diverse food of the state, many communities hold food festivals: this includes crowning an annual Bean Queen (Fairgrove), Mint Queen (St. Johns), and Peach Queen (Romeo). Information about all of this, and more, is available on the new website, michiganfoodways.org

RECIPE STORY CONTEST

           The website includes an online statewide recipe and story contest, at which the public can vote for their favorite of six different recipes and stories. Each of the entries were submitted by Key Ingredients Michigan Foodways host sites. This is more than a simple recipe popularity contest as each recipe has its own story. The recipes and stories include: Pasties (Calumet), Cranberry Apple Pie (Cheboygan), Sour Cream Coffee Cake with Hickory Nuts (Chelsea), Michigan Mom's Favorite Caramel Apple Pie (Dundee), Pretzels (Frankenmuth), and Asparagus and Red Pepper Tart (Whitehall).

MICHIGAN FOODWAYS DINNER AT THE COMMON GRILL: MARCH 19

      The public is invited to feast on Chef Craig Common’s interpretation of the ultimate Michigan meal at his renowned restaurant,The Common Grill. Tickets include wine pairings for four courses and entertainment by special guest, the internationally acclaimed blues and boogie pianist,Mr. B., Mark Lincoln Braun. The price is $100 per ticket, with proceeds to benefit the tour of Michigan Foodways. There is limited seating; tickets are available at michiganfoodways.org

MICHIGAN FOODWAYS CHEF CHALLENGE AT SCHOOLCRAFT COLLEGE: APRIL 21

           On April 21, Schoolcraft College’s technology-rich VisTaTech Center in Livonia will host a unique, first-class chef competition including a strolling dinner, beverages, and dessert for guests. Schoolcraft’s award-winning culinary arts alumni, along with a student from their top-notch culinary arts program, will compete to craft a thoroughly Michigan meal in the state-of-the-art facility with live video and audio simulcast throughout reception area. Celebrity judges, including Detroit Free Press food write Sylvia Rector and Restaurant Villegas Chef and Fork in the Road host Eric Villegas, will discuss and select their favorite plates, and a celebrity emcee will entertain the crowd. Proceeds will benefit Michigan Humanities Council's development of the Michigan Foodwaysexhibit and Schoolcraft College. Tickets will soon be available at michiganfoodways.org

KEY INGREDIENTS MICHIGAN FOODWAYS TOUR

       Key Ingredients is a touring exhibition of Museum on Main Street (MOMS), a partnership of the Smithsonian Institute and the Federation of State Humanities Councils. With photographs, illustrations, and artifacts, it explores the connections between Americans and food via the historical, regional, and social traditions of everyday meals and celebrations.

           Michigan Foodways is created by the Michigan State University Museum and presented by the MHC. It explores our state's food story by examining our rich agriculture, our diverse ethnic cuisines, and our special culinary traditions. Examining other influences that shaped Michigan's foodways, the exhibition acknowledges a number of Michigan food producers and retailers who have enriched the foodways of Michiganians as well as those nationwide.

           The six communities hosting Key Ingredients Michigan Foodways will add their own local flavor to the exhibit’s larger, national story.

           The tour schedule is:

·      CHELSEA: Chelsea District Library. May 25 - July 8, 2007
·      CALUMET: Keweenaw Heritage Center. July 13 - Aug. 26, 2007
·      CHEBOYGAN: Cheboygan Area Public Library. Aug. 31 - Oct. 14, 2007
·      WHITEHALL: White Lake Community Library. Oct. 19 - Dec. 2, 2007
·      FRANKENMUTH: Frankenmuth Historical Museum. Dec. 7, 2007 - Jan. 27, 2008
·      DUNDEE: Old Mill Dundee, Dundee Museum and Community Center. Feb. 1 - Mar. 16, 2008

           Key Ingredients is part of the Museum on Main Street, a collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution and the Federation of State Humanities Councils. Support for the Museum on Main Street has been provided by the United States Congress, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and the Hearst Foundation. Michigan Foodways is presented by the Michigan Humanities Council and MSU Museum, with support from the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs, Select Michigan, Schoolcraft College, The Common Grill, Michigan Sugar Company, MSU Agricultural Experiment Station, MSU College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, and MSU Extension.

    The Michigan Humanities Council, founded in 1974, is the state’s independent, non-profit affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Attached: screen shot of the front page of michiganfoodways.org. High-resolution image of website screenshot available upon request.

Related Links

		MichiganFoodWays.org

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