Wisconsin’s food scene is varied and delicious, letting visitors have a wide variety of ways to eat like the locals do. Here, Dennis Cieri gives us a taste, both in writing and visually, of the diversity that can be found in the Badger State. Be sure to watch the video montage at the end of this Real Food Traveler article.

Save this article about Wisconsin’s culinary wonders to Pinterest to help you plan your own adventures there. Photo top: Rooted in Red cranberry marsh. Bottom left-right: Tasters photo courtesy 3 Sheeps Brewing, Fried fish and waffle fries from Chef Mike, and stirring the pot to make corn bread at Wild Bearies. Photos by Dennis Cieri unless otherwise noted. Graphic by RealFoodTraveler.com.

Hungry for more? Get this Door County, WI 3-day itinerary.

Roasted blue potatoes. Grilled perch. A salad of roasted radishes, baby Brussel sprouts and sunflower seeds. How about a dessert made with a seed crust tart, a squash puree, candied corn, and cranberries topped with a wild rice marshmallow? Sounds like a Michelin star restaurant in Paris or New York?  No, not at all. Welcome to Wisconsin, where innovative chefs have been experimented with an assortment of ingredients and cultural influences. Here European stuffed cabbage meets indigenous roasted squashes and noodles meet candied corn. The result is a unique assortment of dishes that you won’t find anywhere else. Here three chefs and a brewer are sharing their favorite creations and how they are made. Plus, a cranberry producer gives you a cranberry marsh tour 101.

Wisconsin’s Culinary Wonders: Chef Mike, Food Fight Inc

“We serve your classic Wisconsin cuisine,” says Chef Mike of Food Fight Inc, a local restaurant group with participants ranging from steakhouses to eclectic eateries and from diners to cafes with cuisines ranging from German to Italian and from Polish to New American. “Many of us, when we were kids, went to their grandparents’ house on a Sunday to eat perogies and cabbage and noodles and sour cabbage so you start to really crave that stuff,” he says. “Now we are serving that. And there’s almost always a relish on the table—another European tradition.” Where to savor these classics? Take a look at the Food Fight website and see what makes you hungry.

Sweet and Sour Cabbage from Chef Mike and Food Fight, Inc. See Chef Mike’s Cabbage Rolls in our featured image.

Elena Terry of Wild Bearies for Food of Tribe

“For us, food is medicine, we use food as a vessel for healing,” says Elena Terry, executive chef and founder of Wild Bearies, a nonprofit that works with people overcoming trauma or addiction. The organization works with indigenous Wisconsin communities including the Ho-Chunk Nation and others. “For us it’s the process. It’s preparing this food. It’s having these conversations and preserving our ancestors and bringing them back to our community.”  As she makes and serves food, Terry recites a unique dessert recipe: A seed crust tart with a bean and squash puree, candied corn, cranberries from Wisconsin growers and then a wild rice marshmallow on top, which is then melted and decorated with a fresh raspberry. Who can possibly resist that temptation?  Wild Bearies caters for events and occasions and is happy to work with you and serve you—drop them a note here: https://wildbearies.org/contact

A wild salad made of vegetables sourced locally from a nearby farm in Madison, WI, containing roasted squash, candied corn, wild rice, cranberries, and fresh greens topped with a cranberry vinaigrette.

Bobby Sullivan and 3 Sheeps Brewing

“Wisconsin loves anything deep fried with a bucket of ranch. It doesn’t matter what it is so long as you have ample ranch and it’s deep fried,” jokes Bobby of 3 Sheeps Brewing, a Sheboygan-based beer company. That’s the good news for brewers because anything deep-fried goes well with beer.  Three Sheeps Brewing has a full selection for every taste—from pale ale to amber; from lager to stout and from Belgian to barrel-aged. To sample their mouthwatering concoctions, stop by their taproom 1837 North Ave., Sheboygan, WI 53083.

The selection of 3 Sheeps Brewing’s beers.

Rooted in Red, Jamie Biegel

What’s the difference between a cranberry bog and cranberry marsh? None, really, explains Jamie Biegel, a fourth generation Wisconsin native, whose family made cranberries their business. “In the Northeast they are called bogs and in Wisconsin they’re marshes; the state produces about 60 percent of the country’s crop. When it’s time to harvest, the marshes are purposely flooded. Cranberries have a hollow chamber inside so once they’re knocked off, they’re floating in the water and ready to get picked up,” says Biegel, who also runs Rooted in Red, an all-things cranberry event space where one can dig deep into the local culture and farming. Get tickets at https://www.rootedinred.co/

Jamie Biegel’s cranberry marsh, a Wisconsin family business.

Ukwakhwa: Becky Webster

“Shekoli swakweku, which means, hello everyone,” says Becky Webster, a member of the Wolf Clan of the Oneida Nation. Having grown up near Duck Creek which runs right through the Oneida reservation, she now runs a farmstead with her husband Steve, growing traditional, heirloom foods focusing on Haudenosaunee varieties of corn, beans, and squash. They follow the philosophy that every time an indigenous person plants a seed, it is an act of resistance and an assertion of sovereignty. That’s why their farm is named Ukwakhwa: Tsinu Niyukwayayathoslu, which means Our foods: Where we plant things. Webster is happy to share the traditional cornbread making process with anyone interested. Sign up for tours, cooking classes, and events at https://ukwakhwa.com/sample-page/

Corn bread made after demonstrating traditional cooking methods at Ukwakhwa: Tsinu Niyukwayayathoslu farm.

-Story, photos (except where noted), and video by Dennis Cieri

Hungry for more? Experience the wilder side of Door County.