A More Perfect Plate

Nine out of ten Americans used to farm for a living. Today, fewer than two in a hundred do.  In this Dispatch, we travel through seven made-up (but historically grounded) American families to find out how that happened, from a Connecticut homestead in 1750 all the way to a GPS-guided Iowa combine today. Along the way: girdled trees, a locust swarm bigger than California, two very different Virgini...

Nine out of ten Americans used to farm for a living. Today, fewer than two in a hundred do.  In this episode, Nick and Bridget travel through seven made-up (but historically grounded) American families to find out how that happened, from a Connecticut homestead in 1750 all the way to a GPS-guided Iowa combine today. Along the way: girdled trees, a locust swarm bigger than California, two very diff...

We're celebrating America's 250th birthday with this 4th of July hot dog and hamburger episode! This is "The Discussion" where Nick and Bridget talk about all of the fun facts Nick wrote out for this week's dispatch in a more casual and fun way. We get into the immigrant roots of the hot dog and the hamburger: why we call it a "hot dog" (and what's any legen...

We're celebrating America's 250th birthday with this 4th of July hot dog and hamburger episode! This is "The Read" where Nick Nick narrates the entire story to save you from reading it - but if you prefer reading, you can find the link to the blog post below! On our companion episode, "The Discussion," Nick & co-host Bridget dive into the topic with a bit of fun,...

Before refrigerators, before freezers, before the grocery store, a small windowless building behind the farmhouse was the difference between a comfortable winter and a hungry one for many Americans. This week on A More Perfect Plate, we dig into how Americans kept meat from spoiling with nothing but salt, smoke, and an absurd number of pigs, and how that survival technology turned into the ham san...

This is the read-aloud version of Dispatch #3 from A More Perfect Plate: Ham & The American Smokehouse. It's here as an audio version for those of you who'd rather listen than read. In this episode, we talk about how pigs took over the Americas, the root of American ham making, how ham production was a huge part of frontier life for early Americans, and share the origins behind ham&a...

What would you cook for a celebration that changed your life forever?  This is "The Discussion" where Nick & Bridget talk about this week's topic  Nick and Bridget dig into the story of Juneteenth and the food that grew up around it, then work their way into the bigger story of soul food: what it actually is, where it came from, and how it became a staple of American cooking.  W...

This is the read-aloud version of the second written Dispatch from A More Perfect Plate: Juneteenth & Soul Food. It's here as an audio version for those of you who'd rather listen than read. Read by Nick, this piece begins to tell the story of Juneteenth and the food that became part of the celebration, and how what we know as soul food today became a staple of American cuisine. From...

Welcome to the very first episode of the A More Perfect Plate Podcast!  This podcast is about sharing the stories of food & drinks that got America to 250 years old.  After a brief introduction, your hosts Nick and Bridget kick things off with the food that pretty much is Wisconsin: the cheese curd. We talk about why cheese curds squeaks, our favorite curds (from Hill Valley Dairy, naturally),...

Welcome to A More Perfect Plate, a project from Lake Geneva Country Meats about American food & drink stories, all in celebration of America's 250th Birthday. Each week, we publish a dispatch about a food & drink topic that we think tells an interesting American story.  This week, we're introducing the series and talking about cheese curds as a quick and fun way to get into the s...