In Winter's Kitchen: Growing Roots and Breaking Bread in the Northern Heartland - Paperback

by Beth Dooley (Author)

Beth Dooley arrived in Minnesota from New Jersey with preconceptions about the Midwestern food scene. Having learned to cook in her grandmother's kitchen, shopping at farm stands and making preserves, she couldn't help but wonder, "Do people here really eat swampy broccoli, iceberg lettuce, and fried chicken for lunch everyday?"

These assumptions quickly faded as she began to explore farmers' markets and the burgeoning co-op scene in the Twin Cities, and eventually discovered a local food movement strong enough to survive the toughest winter. From the husband and wife who run one of the largest organic farms in the region to Native Americans harvesting wild rice, and from award-winning cheesemakers to Hmong immigrant farmers growing the best sweet potatoes in the country, a rich ecosystem of farmers, artisanal producers, and restaurateurs comes richly to life in this fascinating book.

In Winter's Kitchen "personalizes the path from farm to fork with heart and skill" (Wall Street Journal), demonstrating that even in a place with a short growing season, food grown locally and organically can be healthy, community-based, environmentally conscious, and--most of all--delicious.

Author Biography

Beth Dooley is the author of In Winter's Kitchen: Growing Roots and Breaking Bread in the Northern Heartland, a Minnesota Book Award finalist. She has also written six cookbooks, including, with Sean Sherman, The Sioux Chef's Indigenous Kitchen (winner of the James Beard Award for Best American Cookbook), with Lucia Watson, Savoring the Seasons of the Northern Heartland (a James Beard Nominee) and Minnesota's Bounty: The Farmers Market Cookbook. She is also a Senior Fellow, Endowed Chair in Agricultural Systems, Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture at the University of Minnesota. She writes for the Star Tribune, Mpls St. Paul Magazine, The Heavy Table, and is a regular guest on Minnesota Public Radio's Appetites with Tom Crann and KARE 11 (NBC) television. Dooley lives in Minneapolis.