Drinker's Paradise

Sorry Asheville, I love you as a town but you're behind Traverse City again (and you're wrong).

First a little background...

Traverse City residents are familiar with our town perennially appearing on "up and coming" foodie town lists.

But the bigger story might be how the area is becoming known for adult beverages.

For example, in the Spring of 2011 I met a gentleman from Pennsylvania who read about Michigan and decided to drive out to experience the solitude of a cabin on Beaver Island. But first he was taking a tour of North Peak, Mackinaw Brewing Company, and Right Brain Brewery and stocking up on growlers.

And the Grand Traverse Resort offers walking Traverse City Craft Brewery Tours downtown with shuttle service back to the resort.

Now Draft Magazine puts Traverse City with OKC and St Louis as three emerging beer towns.



That's not fair to those other towns though. Like the Food Town lists that say Traverse City is "up and coming" I'd argue that Traverse City is the firmly established capital of the adult beverage aficionado.

Here's why...

Several years ago I took a trip to Ithaca, NY. Loved their Farmer's Market but was annoyed by signs proclaiming the highest restaurant density in the world - "even higher than New York City!" they said. It didn't feel right to me. When I got home I looked up the numbers and calculated that in fact Traverse City has a higher restaurant density than Ithaca.

What I found is Ithaca had 1.84 restaurants per 1000 people; Traverse City had 2.27 per 1000 people. I suppose I could infer from that that Traverse City has the highest restaurant density in the United States (but won't).

And that takes me to beer.

Asheville, NC proclaims itself as Beer City USA and boasts the "highest craft beer per capita in the world".

So I wanted to find the numbers and see if that was true.

Asheville, NC population = 83,393 (417,012 in the metro area)

Traverse City, MI population = 14,674

Craft breweries in Asheville = 10

Craft breweries in TC = 4 (I include Jolly Pumpkin on Old Mission but not the soon to open Brewery Terra Firma nor the rumors of 2 more coming)

14674/4 = 3668 people per brewery in Traverse City (dropping to 2935:1 once Brewery Terra Firma opens)

83,393/10 = 8339 people per brewery in Asheville.

So I could say Traverse City has more than twice the craft breweries per capita than Asheville.

I can then make it look worse.

Take into account the Old Mission Wineries, Left Foot Charley, Civilized Spirits, and the Grand Traverse Distillery.

And you get 1 drinking destination per 917 people.

Asheville. Beer Town USA.
-10 breweries
-5 wineries within an hours drive
-2 distilleries
=17

Which gives 1 drinking destination for 4905 people.

In other words, the density of breweries, wineries, and distilleries is 5 times higher in Traverse City than Asheville.

And that does not even include Black Star Farms and the wineries of the Leelanu appellation; Acoustic Mead; Shorts Brewing; or Tandem Ciders.

Nor does it include other destinations such as 7 Monks Taproom, Brew, Uncorked, or the fact that Blue Tractor has beer from every microbrewery in Michigan.

Add it all up and it is not a fair competition to any other region. This is a paradise.

Batali Is Checking In

In an interview for Family Circle Magazine Mario Batali had this:

Favorite getaways: "We have a quiet vacation home in Michigan. I'll spend two months there over the summer without a cell phone or computer, golfing, swimming in the lake, and cooking for family and friends. It's heaven!

If you follow Chef Batali on twitter you'll see he's tweeting and checking-in to foursquare from Leelanau county on his iPhone, so the part about spending the summer without a cell phone or computer may not be quite accurate. Though an iPhone is so much more than a cell phone so technically he is correct, but who cares? - I'm just happy to see how he's spending his time in our part of Michigan.

1000 To 50

1000 commercial fishing licenses in Michigan to 50 today according to the Environment Report series Swimming Upstream which is investigating why it is so hard to find Great Lakes fish at your local market or restaurant.

GreatLakesWhitefish.com has more on Petersen Fisheries which is featured in the IPR story.

The next episode is about selling fish at the local Farmer's Market and how successful that has been for The Fish Monger's Wife.

So the next steps seems obvious, a CSF.

Community Supported Fisheries act like a CSA and allow you to get your fish directly, without a middleman. It means jobs for commercial fishers and fresh fish for consumers.

The most recent CSF I have read about is Off The Hook CSF in Halifax.

Foodie Jobs

Recently seen:

Higher Grounds: Barista/ Roastery team member

The Cook's House: Towards a true local cuisine

We are wanting to find someone we can put on staff who will go out foraging for us.

Appreciating Juglandaceae

There are black walnut trees all over downtown Traverse City neighborhoods. This tree does not appear to be native according to the US Forest Service: Juglans nigra L.


-Native range of black walnut

but it sure has naturalized itself wonderfully.

I've often thought about collecting these walnuts but was never sure about how they compared to the English variety you get in the store.

Supposedly they are wonderful as Hank from Hunter Angler Gardener Cook discusses at TheAtlantic: Black Gold: The Pleasures of a Hard-to-Crack Nut

Looks like I have a foraging project for next Fall!

Raise The Roof

"It's like a grocery store in your backyard."

I love this. So simple and elegant and obvious.

Via Grist: Even city chickens want rooftop gardens on their coops

Photo and official site: Traci Fontyn - Kippen House

PigStockTC - Where Prosciutto Flies

Via R-E: Rare pig provides tasty prosciutto

Flickr: PigstockTC

Official site at blogger.

Black Star Farms will have their chefs there.

The pig making this possible is the Mangalitsa. Read about it at wikipedia.

PigstockTC shows the value of boutique agriculture, whether hops, chestnuts, or heritage turkeys; the farmer who mixes this low volume/high reward method guarantees themselves a mixed income stream. When Michigan realizes that its future is tied to agriculture I hope to see more events like this where chefs and farmers have fun with these new and unique ingredients.

Tip of my hat to you PigstockTC!

"The 2011 Epicurean Classic will be held September 15-18 at the Village at Grand Traverse Commons"

Might be the best thing I read today.

See UpNorthLive: The Epicurean Classic is coming back

Welcome back.

Why I Shop At Oryana

Oh Oryana, Traverse City is lucky to have a food cooperative like you.

Mark Bittman on his blog recently highlighted the need for supermarkets that strive to be better.
See: About “Better” Supermarkets

We should unquestionably support good supermarkets, but we should also be pushing them to:

- carry sustainable seafood exclusively

- carry ethically raised meat and poultry whenever possible

- carry organic and/or local fruits and vegetables whenever possible

- buy from suppliers who themselves have a conscience whenever possible

- pay their own staff a living wage, with benefits

- think about their energy usage, their waste, their community service

This sounds like what our Oryana has always done. See: Purchasing Policy

And this food co-op is so much a part of the fabric of Traverse City that I couldn't imagine this town without it. Oryana is one of those organizations that makes Traverse City more livable.

Dear Oryana,
Thank you.

Re-Inventing The Cherry Festival

I am going to admit something that for someone in Traverse City is similar to a rural Michigander saying "maybe we don't need so many townships?" - and that is, maybe the Cherry Festival is too long and not focused on the right things?

Because in its current incarnation I don't care for the Cherry Festival. One reason is because I feel like a minority for NOT smoking cigarettes. Another reason is I prefer farmers to carnies. Plus there are the piles of trash (I will not reveal if I am referring to people or refuse) and as Gary points out over at MWaT, Traverse City gets trashed in general during the TCCF. See: The condition of the Open Space, post-Cherry Festival

What I would like to see is a shortened Cherry Festival that doesn't span two weekends, and a Cherry Festival that is re-imagined as a food festival much like the lost Epicurean Classic.

Alas, the only victory at this year's Festival was no twilight air show. I think the outcry from the downtown parents after the last time the Blue Angels flew at night precluded any future consideration for evening strafing runs.

"If Disney World had a Foodland, it might look a little like Traverse City"

Thank you Midwest Living, I think. Is that a compliment?

See: Best Midwest Food Towns: #2 Traverse City: an established food reputation

However, the population of Traverse City is around 14,000 - the region has 142,000 people. And Radish closed because no one wants to buy salad by the pound.

The article mentions that Traverse City is missing culinary diversity, and that is true, there are a preponderance of brew pubs, but with eateries such as Zakey and the Soul Hole opening I have hope that there will be a trend to more diverse cuisine.

Hoop Houses In Northern Michigan

American Public Media's Marketplace show featured Traverse City's Black Star Farm and Meadowlark Farm and their hoop houses on February 4th.

See: Farmers go low-tech to grow in winter

Urban Farming In Detroit

What would make a good term to describe the establishment of farms in once urban areas? Re-ruralization?

Detroit is trying it.

See BB: GM's Bust Turns Detroit Into Urban Prairie of Vacant-Lot Farms

The city has more than 500 gardens and ``we plan to triple that every year,'' said Michael Travis, deputy director of Urban Farming, a Detroit-based nonprofit corporation that helps clear land and provides topsoil and fertilizer.

Food Festivals

MSNBC - America's best food and wine festivals

IHT - Food-themed festivals thrive as growing declines

There's a lesson here for the Cherry Festival. Be careful about focusing more on the idea of the festival than what it is supposed to promote. Just look at Gilroy for an example. It was once the garlic capital, now there are only 500 acres left of garlic farms. If cherry orchards keep getting turned into subdivisions all that'll be left in northern Michigan will be street names such as "Cherry View Orchard Lane" - but there won't be any view there.

Another Food And Lifestyle Magazine For Northern Michigan?

Right on the heels of Edible Grande Traverse, a new magazine from Village Press, The 45th!.

Oryana At 35

GTHerald - Oryana's success true cooperative effort

Northern Spirits

Grand Traverse Distillery has opened their web site.

Coverage from the Record-Eagle - One man's spirited endeavor

Black Star Farms has a distillery to produce brandy in addition to their award winning wine and cheese.

And there are rumors of another distillery opening in Suttons Bay.

These are great additions to the breweries and wineries in northwest lower Michigan. It is clear Traverse City is now the culinary capital of Michigan. Next, domination of the Midwest.