Spoiled

I am writing this post while on my back porch where I am tending to a brisket cooking low and slow (you gotta love WiFi). Brisket is perhaps the most unforgiving of the BBQ meats family. It takes a good deal of patience. In my case, I'll be smoking this hunk of beef for about 12 hours. This is what I do on weekends when my wife and kids are away.

I fell in love with brisket while living it Texas, where ribs, pork, and everything else plays second fiddle to brisket. Where I lived, between Dallas and Fort Worth, I had half a dozen BBQ joints within a two-mile radius of my home. This spoiled me. Since moving away, I've never found anyone else who can do brisket like the Texans.

That's what regional foods are all about, aren't they? Those great tastes you just can't get anywhere else - a lobster roll in Maine, sourdough in San Francisco. Enjoying these foods in their natural habitat spoils us forever. Even my brisket, as good as it will be, will not be the same. I can't get mesquite wood, that imparts such great flavor. I have to settle for a bag of mesquite chips from the local big box.

So, what Midwest flavors would you miss the most if you moved away. Perhaps you already have left the heartland and you've stumbled upon this blog through some homesick Googling. I would miss sweet corn, tomatoes, breaded tenderloins, and sugar cream pie. These are some of my favorite Indiana foods. What about you? What would you miss?

Scott Hutcheson from Indiana

I'm glad to be part of this new blog. Anne suggested that our first post should be an introduction, so here is mine.

I'm Scott Hutcheson and I'll be posting here as the representative from Indiana which has been my home since 1995 when my wife and I moved to here for me to pursue a PhD at Purdue University. Somewhere along the way we decided Indiana was a good place to call home. Since that time we've procreated a couple of native Hoosiers and I think we're here to stay.

I have a dual career as both a food writer and an economic development strategist. Occasionally those two interests intersect when I work with people to help them develop community food systems.

I've been writing most of my life and had my first piece published when I was 16 but it was nearly 24 years later before I started to write about food. I do most of the cooking in our two-career family and began putting food and writing together when I become the weekly food columnist for my local newspaper. The column, The Hungry Hoosier, garnered some attention and is now syndicated in several Indiana newspapers. The Hungry Hoosier "brand," if you will, has now expanded to include a weekly radio program, a regular feature on Indianapolis Public Television, and a website. I'm also a frequent contributor to the Indianapolis Monthly magazine.

I am writing a book with fellow Indiana food writer (and Indiana University political science professor) Christine Barbour. Our book, Home Grown Indiana: A Food Lover's Guide to Good Eating in the Heartland (Indiana University Press) is due in 2008. If you want more of the resume type stuff, go here.

I have no formal culinary training but I love to cook for and eat with family and friends and I think I've got a good handle on Indiana flavor. As for what you'll likely see and not see in this space - I'm not a ranter nor am I particularly political in my writing. I don't even consider myself a foodie. In fact, I don't really think of myself as a food writer. I write about interesting people and places and food seems always show show up in these stories.

So, I'll cover a pretty wide range of content: farmers, chefs, and food entrepreneurs; small-town cafes, interesting suburban finds, eclectic neighborhood haunts; wine tastings and church pitch-ins; award-winning Indiana caviar, kobe beef, and goat cheese; and people-pleasing Hoosier breaded tenderloins, state fair ribeye sandwiches, and sugar cream pie.

I hope you enjoy the site and learn a little bit about Indiana. If you want, you can drop me a line here.

Welcome!

Welcome to the Greater Midwest Foodways Alliance blog, where writers, journalists, bloggers, and food enthusiasts across the region gather together to share the tastes and traditions from their home states. We invite you to join in the dialogue and to contribute your experiences, memories, and recipes by leaving comments on our posts. Everyone is welcome to the table.

While you stay tuned to the blog, be sure to catch up with GMFA happenings on our homepage. And please join us in Chicago on September 15 for our inaugural event, Stuffed: A Journey of Midwestern Sausage Traditions.