In parts of the Upper Midwest, the phrase “pizza farm” is as evocative of summer food as “juneberry pie,” “butter cow” and “rutabaga festival.” (The 88th annual celebration begins Saturday in Cumberland, Wis.)Trace the route of the Mississippi River down from Minneapolis and along the Wisconsin-Iowa border. In the last two decades, dozens of farms in this region have built wood-fired ovens, studied the basics of crust, sauce and cheese, and begun serving pizza on summer nights. Families haul in stacks of camp chairs; couples on dates sip wine on picnic blankets; children poke at the animals and run themselves out by dark. Pizza is usually the only item on the menu, but the homegrown toppings change with the season, from baby onions and roasted carrots in the spring to zucchini, fried eggplant and red peppers as the season closes out in September. In tune with the farm-to-table, local and sustainable food movements, pizza farming has spread across the country.

Source: New York Times August 25, 2020 09:00 UTC