Photos by Nikki Miller

German kuchen

​The scene is a community center basement in rural South Dakota. Your ticket in hand, you wait in line as one after another, satiated women and very pregnant-looking men, suspenders stretched over their stuffed bellies, exit the dining room, freeing up space for you and your party to sit at one of its many long white benches. You're finally seated next to families you've never met, brushing elbows with strangers as you're served nudel suppe, danpfleisch, kase mit knopfle, and kuchen. As you pass the geschmacke and sauerkraut, a man who grew up in a local Russian Mennonite colony compares his Low German dialect with the High German spoken by the man next to him, who likely learned his own dialect from parents emigrated to the farmlands of South Dakota from Germany. Pass the kaffe, bitte and danke.

To a food enthusiast traveling from the city, Schmeckfest is a Brave New (Old) World, to be sure.

More »

Kei Terauchi

On this flight, the glass is definitely half full

Chicken or beef?

The question alone is cringe-inducing. With its aluminum foil container, mystery meat covered in undistinguishable sauce, and that particular odor, airplane food has been the butt of the joke for decades.

Is this the fact even in business class?

You'd almost want to hear, yes, it's equally bad. But the unfair fact is, food in business or first class can be significantly more enjoyable than what's served in coach, especially if it's on a long international flight.

We had the opportunity to taste the menu in business class on a Delta flight from Minneapolis to Tokyo. Here's our impression.

More »

Photo by Kelly Dwyer

One Minnesota farm is touting alpaca burgers and steaks

​Over the last decade, small herds of alpaca have sprung up across the country as the price of choice breeding stock skyrocketed. An award-winning animal would routinely fetch five- or even six-figure amounts on the market and, as a result, entrepreneurs nationwide invested in what seemed like a lucrative business.

Much like in its native Peru, alpaca fiber is prized in the U.S. for use in blankets and apparel. However, one Peruvian custom has not emigrated with the animals: alpaca as a food source.

One Minnesota couple is hoping to change all that.

 

More »

Sustainably farmed, locavore eats--at 1970s prices!

Head south from the Twin Cities on Highway 52 and don't stop until you start seeing poop clods on the side of the road: That's how you know you're in Amish country.

The Harmony/Preston/Lanesboro area is ground zero for Minnesota Amish, a religious subgroup of the Mennonite churches with very traditional beliefs. And for foodies concerned about their carbon footprint, the Amish refusal to adopt modern conveniences means that Amish crops, though not necessarily organic, are planted, harvested, and transported without burning fossil fuels, as the Amish use only horse-drawn cultivators and buggies.

A roadside stop at a parking lot in downtown Canton (just southeast of Harmony) lucked into a bazaar staffed by several women clad in black cloaks and bonnets. They were selling all sorts of handcrafted wares and foodstuffs, including baked goods, rolled butter, and this jar of raspberry jam ($2.50!) and bag of whoopie pies (75 cents for two!) that the Hot Dish just couldn't pass up.

Explore Minnesota

Plan your trip before the leaves pass peak.

Looking for fall color? Explore Minnesota has you covered with 10 recommended drives, or "Rainbow Routes," and a Fall Color map to show you which percentage of the leaves have changed in all areas of the state.

As for where to stop if you're headed along the Mississippi River Valley, Hot Dish has several recommendations:

More »

Celebrating the spud.

Although it is hard to compete with the first weekend of the fair, if you really love potatoes--I mean love them so much you want to roll around in a giant pile of mashed potatoes wearing a polyester singlet--Barnesville Potato Days might just lure you away from the midway.

More »

Courtesy of Schell's Brewery

In 150 years, Schell's never inflicted habanero beer, maple syrup beer or peaches and cream beer on an unsuspecting public, but the brewery did make these beers for another company during the 1980s.

​

After 150 years, Schell's Brewery  continues to brew its beer from the same recipe that put the company in business in 1860. So it's no surprise that its signature beer - and its siblings - will be flowing at the company's 150th
anniversary Schellabration
(their pun, not ours) on September 17 and 18 in New Ulm.

Free beer samples and a free brewery tours make Saturday the must-attend day of the festival.

More »

Monica Wright

Visit Little Pint's home on Lake Pepin

This week's punishingly hot weather has us scrambling for places to cool off (or hide out) until the oppressive humidity relents. Naturally, large bodies of water are especially enticing.

More »

Corn awaits you.

​Today begins an annual tradition that has taken place since 1961--the Cokato Corn Carnival--celebrating one of the state's finest harvests. Since Cokato is only about an hour from the Twin Cities, this is a good opportunity to let the wind blow through your hair, and escape the hustle and bustle for a little while.
Cokato is taken from the  Dakota word co-ka-ta, meaning roughly "in the middle of" or "in the midst of," and what you could be in the middle of the next few evenings is corn, heavenly corn.

More »

Farm machines deserve a festival, too.

It's another great weekend to hit the road. Especially if you're the one riding in the passenger seat, with feet out window. With GPS you no longer even have to read the map.

Many great events are happening this weekend, and it's a good bet that there will also be great stops at rural farmer's markets, diners, and roadside attractions along the way. The 47th Annual Old-Time Harvest Gas and Steam Engine Festival in Jordan, Minnesota, makes an easy day trip to pay tribute to those commanding machines that work the fields, and it's only 38 miles from Minneapolis.

More »