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From the EditorFor everyone, food is a necessity. For many, it’s much more than that. For some, it’s a career; for others, it’s a hobby; and for still others, an obsession. For me, food is love. I didn’t learn to cook until I was several years into my adult life. Sure, I could cover the basics well enough to feed myself and make the occasional dessert required of potlucks and parties, but that was all I could do. It was all I cared to do. When I was about 25, a job change introduced me to a host of new coworkers. For lunch, they brought much more interesting leftovers than I did, and our nonwork conversations often revolved around food. My bland northern Wisconsin tastes were challenged at restaurants we visited while traveling and at dinners at their homes: bouillabaisse, risotto, osso buco, coq au vin, paella. I loved it all. I once mentioned to my coworker Caryn that I wished I knew how to cook. She gave me a blank look. “Just get a cookbook,” she said, “and follow the directions.” I bought a few and piled them on my nightstand for bedtime reading. The instructions were fairly basic, and the ingredients intriguing. Best of all, each recipe was in and of itself a little story of the author’s inspiration—a regional dish, an unforgettable dining experience, a childhood memory. I flagged page after page with Post-it Notes. Once in the kitchen, despite my dull knives and cheap pots, I spent many a happy evening alone assembling satisfying dishes while learning the meaning of mise en place. It was a practice, like meditation, like prayer. I came to love the preparation of food.Not so long after, I started dating a new guy. One of our first dates was to a cozy trattoria in St. Paul, and for Christmas he gave me an authentic Italian cookbook he’d found at a used bookstore. Our evenings together were often spent preparing a meal, side by side, with good conversation, wine and Edith Piaf singing in the background. Over the course of a year, we baked pies, canned tomatoes and bottled honey from bees he’d raised himself. How could we not fall in love? These days, our meals are conceived on the evening drive to day care, a mental scramble through what’s in the fridge, what can be made quickly and what the kids will eat (our menu is slim). But occasionally, we find ourselves in need of something for a potluck or party, and the cookbooks come out, spilling their stories and inspiration. Out come the good knives and sturdy pots, the wine and the music. It’s like falling in love, all over again. For our first-ever “Food” issue of Coulee Region Women, we’ve found a host of women in the area for whom food is a career, an obsession—a love. From locally grown produce to your own garden offerings, from fine wine to fish fries, from coffee to cupcakes, we’ve had great fun recalling our own food memories, delving into the food stories that have made our region famous and meeting the women behind them. We hope you, too, enjoy each savory bite of this issue of Coulee Region Women. Betty Christiansen PAST ISSUES
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What is inside this month's issue:Profile Careers Restaurant Guide Personal & Professional Home Home & Garden Designing Women Healthy Living Food Retail Therapy |
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