Wisconsin Foodie

Travel to Oak Creek, WI and join Chef David Swanson at Pinehold Gardens for a pig roast. Chef Swanson is preparing a dinner on the farm for 50 people. We also meet the farmers at Pinehold Gardens - Sandy Raduenz and David Kozlowski and get a tour of their land.

Follow farmer Tim Huth of LotFotl Farm in East Troy, WI as he prepares produce for his weekly CSA & restaurant deliveries. We also visit Beans & Barley restaurant and get a behind the scenes look at how they use local produce on their menu.

Visit the annual Kohler Food & Wine experience to meet up with several top chefs and tour the area with Chef Ulrich Koberstein.

Travel north to Bayfield, WI to visit the Wild Rice restaurant and meet with owner Mary Rice and Chef Jim Webster.

Visit Madison, WI and tour the Dane County Farmers Market with Chef Tory Miller. Chef Miller introduces us to some of his favorite vendors at the market.

Visit the West Allis Farmers Market with Chef/Owner of Sanford restaurant Sandy D'Amato and his Chef de Cuisine Justin Aprahamian. With the bounty purchased at the market we cook up lunch at the restaurant.

Travel to Belgium, WI to meet farmer Al Wyker of Lakeview Buffalo Farm. Al takes us on an adventure around his farm to feed the Bison. We also join Olympic Gold-Medal winner and Wisconsin native Garrett Weber-Gale at Bacchus restaurant in Milwaukee for an evening of celebration.

We get on our bikes and ride through Sheboygan and Ozaukee counties with Chef David Swanson. We tour several of his favorite farms: Jeff-Leen Farms, Wellspring Farms and Evergreen Lane Farm ending in a dinner shared by farmers and cyclists.

Visit Urban Agriculture upstart Sweet Water Organic in Milwaukee, WI. Founder Jim Godsil gives us a tour and tells us about the past, present and future of Sweet Water Organics.

Travel north to Cornucopia, WI to meet a family living off the grid and making Kim Chi. Jennifer and Andrew Sauter-Sargent run Spirit Creek Farm, a lacto-fermented foods company.

Travel to Elkhart Lake and visit with Chef Lynn Chisholm of the Paddock Club. Chef Lynn tours though the Elkhart Lake Farmers Market and then walks us across the street to prepare lunch at her restaurant. We also visit the Osthoff Cooking school and the Lake Street Cafe.

Visit with local food icon Will Allen of Growing Power in Milwaukee, WI. Will gives us a tour of his farm which is the last remaining farm in the city and located in a food desert. We then follow a shipment of greens from Growing Power to Meritage restaurant in Wauwatosa were Chef Jan Kelly prepares a dish that incorporates the greens.

Travel to Platteville and tour BJB Cattle Company with Farmer Barry Brodbeck. Barry has partnered with the Strauss Veal Company to "free-raise" veal calves. We also meet the family behind Strauss veal and hear their philosophy behind "free-raised" veal. Later, we visit Bacchus restaurant in Milwaukee where Chef Adam Siegel is putting together an 8 course dinner that features "free-raised" veal.

Explore Milwaukee’s North Side and meet several individuals changing the course from a Food Desert to an Urban Ag epicenter. Visit with Young Kim of the Fondy Food Center as he celebrates the market's opening weekend with a BBQ competition. Then, travel to Alice’s Garden to meet Venice Williams. Finally, visit Milwaukee’s iconic Speed Queen BBQ and get a tour from owner Giovanni Gillespie.

Visit Madison, WI for the World Cheese Championship. With over 2500 cheeses from around the world, this group of esteemed and international judges must select the top 3 cheeses in the world. Meet some of the judges that happen to also be the biggest names in the cheese industry from buyers to writers and cheesemakers to mongers.

Over the past several decades we have strayed away from small farms raising and processing their own animals. Meet a couple farmers that are reversing that trend and bringing back small scale meat processing: Steven and Darlyne Pinnow of Pinn-Oak Ridge Farms and Bartlett Durand of Black Earth Meats. Finally, visit Burgers and Brew - an event put on by REAP food Groups at Capital Brewery.

Visit the award-winning New Glarus Brewing company in New Glarus, WI to meet Co-Owner and Brewmaster Dan Carey for a tour of the Brewery. Then meet James Altweis from Gorst Valley Hops as he and his team prepare to install the beginnings of a Hop farm. Finally, visit the Carey household for a look at how Dan tests different varieties of hops on his kitchen stove.

Travel to New York City to celebrate the man known as James Beard. First, visit the James Beard House in greenwich village for a "pop-up" dinner featuring chef Tory Miller of L'Etoile. Then, hit the red carpet for the James Beard Awards in which chef Miller and chef Justin Aprahamian are nominated for Best Chef Midwest.

In New York City, see the influence Wisconsin has on the worlds biggest culinary stages. First, meet Beloit native turned international celebrity and Michelin-awarded chef, Michael White at Osteria Morini. At Murray's Cheese, see where Wisconsin ranks among the world's best cheeses. And, meet Milwaukee native Julia Jaksic at Employees Only where she creates midwestern inspired dishes.

Picnic on the farm at Cress Spring Bakery in Blue Mounds. Hosted by Edible Madison, this picnic features pigs raised by Chef Dan Fox and Micah Nicholes and cooked over a wood-fired oven that baker Jeff Ford also uses to make artisanal breads.

Meet several vendors at the market, and get a behind the scenes look at the annual breakfast that celebrates the market's final day. Featuring chef Peter Sandroni from La Merenda, Justin Aprahamian from Sanford, culinary instructor Jack Kaestner and more.

In Burlington, tour Brightonwoods Orchard with owner and vice president of the Wisconsin Apple Growers Association Bill Stone. The orchard features over 200 varieties of apples, including rare, antique apples that are popular with local chefs. Brightonwoods is also home to AeppleTreow Winery & Distillery, which makes cider, brandy and whiskey with the fruit.

At Wisconsin's original CSA farm in Plymouth, owner Peter Seely gives a tour of the farm and shows the process of packing up the CSA boxes. Also, Chef Chris Mangless of Three Three Five in Green Bay stops by the farm to pick up some produce for a special cocktail dinner he is hosting with guests Nick and Ira of Bittercube.

Travel from Sauk County to Barvaria, Germany to profile one of our favorite ingredients – the hop. First, visit Gorst Valley Hops to learn about the resurgence of Wisconsin Hops. Then, tag along with Dan Carey of New Glarus Brewing as he travels to the Hallertau region of Bavaria, Germany to source hops for some of their brews.

Explore a small sample size of the food trucks world ranging from traditional and ethnic cuisine to trucks dedicated to Midwest comfort food using locally sourced ingredients.

Visit Milwaukee's first inner-city cheese factory, Clock Shadow Creamery, which sits in the shadow of the Allen-Bradley clock in the city's burgeoning culinary neighborhood Walker's Point. Get a tour from owner Bob Wills and learn how the creamery also serves as an incubator for upstarts like Martha's Pimento Cheese and Purple Door Ice Cream.