FOOD SOURCES: From France to Midwest, creating food culture

Our region is flush with great food. From the Fond du Lac Band's indigenous gardeners to Mahtowa beekeepers, Wrenshall sustainable farmers, Carlton shiitake mushroom growers, Esko picklers, Moose Lake brewers, and Cromwell orchardists - the "grow, shop and eat local region" is prospering here. Meet our food lovers and enjoy the favorite dishes they actually cook and eat at home.

Meet Francois Medion

Growing up in a farm family north of the Bordeaux region in southwest France - where wine and cognac are produced - left a lifelong imprint on Francois Medion. He spent his first year in the U.S. working in New York doing theater production, and then worked in the fine dining world both in New York and Minneapolis. But he longed to live in a rural area with friends nearby.

Medion moved to the Fond du Lac Reservation in 2001 and began gardening and landscaping while attending Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College. The gardens are filled with pumpkins, squash, tomatoes, tobacco and medicinal plants. Medion also helped start the annual Bee Symposium and launched the Journey Garden at the Ojibwe School, a summer program where kids spend time harvesting, selling, and processing fruits, vegetables and herbs.

In 2010, while taking a class called "The Natural Step" - offered by Sustainable Twin Ports - Medion met the owners of the Duluth Grill. Tom and Jaima Hanson asked him to design and launch their garden, hoping to transform the concrete and asphalt environment of West Duluth into an "oasis." The plan called for growing fruits, vegetables and herbs that guests could see, touch and smell and then taste when they were cooked into their meals. He grew the usual things gardeners grow around here - and also kiwi, apricots, elderberries and edible flowers. The gardens made it clear the Duluth Grill was all about local food and sustainability.

Food inspiration

He is a voracious reader and student of permaculture, always searching for ways of integrating biodiversity into his gardening, landscaping and cooking. He recommends "Eating on the Wild Side" by Jo Robinson, where he learned from her to always let garlic sit for at least 10 minutes after chopping or crushing to get the maximum nutritional value. Other favorites are "The Forager's Harvest" by Samuel Thayer, an international expert on edible wild plants and Francois' friend, and "The New Wildcrafted Cuisine: Exploring the Exotic Gastronomy of Local Terroir" by Pascal Baudar.

Grow, shop, eat local

As a grandfather and great-grandfather, Medion is an "incorrigible optimist" about the future. He firmly believes having your own garden and buying local helps. "Shipping our dollars out of here doesn't help much," he said.

He's active with the Fond du Lac Band's work on food sovereignty that encourages people to produce healthy and culturally appropriate food through ecologically sound and sustainable methods. He's encouraged by the food sovereignty underway in Finland, where North Shore farmers grow, raise, or wild-harvest a sizable portion of their diet and are becoming a food hub for their neighbors. He's working on the Band's new 36-acre farm that is designed for agricultural, educational and demonstration purposes.

This year's garden

This year Medion and the Ojibwe School kids will grow Heritage White Corn in the Journey Garden. This special seed was given to the Reservation's Thirteen Moons Program by the Oneida Nation Farms in Wisconsin. In his own garden, he'll grow Bear Island Flint Corn which he likes because it makes a very good cornmeal with a sweet flavor.

Italian Corn Grits

Preparation: 2 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes, plus 10 minutes cooling/settling

Ingredients:

3 Tbsp unsalted butter (optional)

1 tsp sea salt

2 cups corn grits/polenta (consider Bob's Red Mill coarse grits or substitute with coarse ground flint corn)

6 cups water

½ cup shredded "strong" hard cheese (optional) such as Parmesan, Romano, Fontina or Monterey Jack

In a large deep pan over high heat, bring water and sea salt to a boil, gradually stir in the grits (polenta). Reduce heat and simmer gently, stirring frequently to prevent sticking until mixture is very thick (about 30 minutes); use a long-handled spoon because mixture pops and bubbles and can burn.

Stir in butter and cheese, if you wish, and more salt if needed.

Oil a medium-sized sheet pan, spoon in the grits into an inch-thick even layer and let set for 10 minutes. Mixture will mold and hold its shape. Cut polenta into squares or rectangles and serve hot.

Note from the cook: This dish is traditionally made in Italy with coarse yellow corn grits but you can substitute with a different type of coarse-ground flint corn such as blue corn. You can grind your own with a handmill. Once cooled and sliced, polenta can be refrigerated up to a week and subsequently refried in a pan, which in my opinion makes it even better, giving it a golden color and great texture: crisp on the outside and creamy inside.

If you would like to tell your local food story, call Emily at Oldenburg House, 218-384-4835.