The Minnesota Homegrown Cookbook: Local Food, Local Restaurants, Local Recipes

by Renewing the Countryside, Alice Tanghe, Anthony Brett Schreck (Photographs)

This photography rich book is a love song for local food. Through narrating the stories of 31 Minnesota chefs and restaurants, the Minnesota Homegrown Cookbook offers 100 recipes that celebrate cooking with local, sustainably grown food. The passion of these chefs, and the farmers they work with, sings throughout the pages. This cookbook combines rich traditions and delightful innovations. The mouth-watering fare of world-class bed-and-breakfasts is here, alongside the saucy mix of cultural cuisines from kitchens at the Twin Cities’ Café Brenda, Spoon River, Lucia’s, Heartland, and the delectable slow cooking of eateries like the New Scenic Café in Two Harbors and Minwanjige Café in Strawberry Lake. Mixing the familiar comfort food of Minnesota’s roots in the culture of Northern Europe with the fine new flavors of world cuisine, these recipes comprise a travel guide through Minnesota, with illustrated profiles of chefs and farmers, of food and farms. The Minnesota Homegrown Cookbook is the newest release from Renewing the Countryside (RTC), a Minnesota-based non-profit organization that champions the positive stories of rural revitalization. In additional to developing books, RTC produces educational programming around local foods and sustainable agriculture including the Local Food Hero radio show, the Healthy Local Foods exhibit at the State Fair’s EcoExperience and Green Routes, a sustainable tourism initiative.

Genres: Cookbooks, Food

160 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Alicia Bayer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I checked this giant hardcover book out from the library and am glad I didn't purchase a copy. While there are elements I like (tales of the restaurants and businesses profiled), most of the recipes won't work for my family and none really wowed me. They tend towards rather high brow and trendy.

Folks with special diets take note -- wheat, meat and dairy products make up many of these recipes. Gluten free, paleo, vegetarian and (especially) vegan cooks will not find much that will work for them.

The book is full of color photos, but not many of the recipes include photos. As an example, the recipe for a cream cheese tart with a blueberry topping was accompanied by a big close-up photo of blueberries.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Add one intro from Garrison Keillor to a recipe or two from a handful of local food restaurateurs, plus a dash of good food photography and you've got yourself this coffee-table quality cookbook. Just how long did it take this "author" to "write" this cookbook?!? But I don't mean to be so critical (read: jealous). It is a gift-worthy book with contains recipes you probably can't obtain otherwise.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's fun to see recipes featured from restaurants around the state and too see local farm ingredients featured as well. However 95% of these recipes I would not make. They are, IMO, gourmet fare and not for the average home cook. The only 2 recipes I'm actually making are a beet salad, modifying greatly from the original, and rommegrot (norwegian porridge) as it's a very simple recipe and I have a fondness for it.

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is more of a tour of Minnesota restaurants that strive to use healthy and locally produced ingredients. There are two or three recipes with each. I may try a couple of the restaurants, but I didn't keep any of the recipes.

[Christa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a gorgeous book, lots of work went into the publication. But a lot of the ingredients integral to the recipes are too "out there" for my family. I did find a few dishes I'm going to try.

[Lynda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellant. Will keep.