‘Midwestern Food’ Review: Hungry for the Heartland

‘Throughout our history, the Midwest has been the most consequential region in the development of American food and drink culture,” Paul Fehribach writes in “Midwestern Food.” Ambitious, personal and deeply researched, Mr. Fehribach’s beguiling opus is sure to attract controversy, not only over what dishes he includes and excludes but also over his definition of the Midwest’s boundaries and which regions within them warrant his focus. The area is so vast and diverse that even its residents don’t always agree whether they should identify as Midwestern, but navigating this geographic and culinary opacity with a guide as knowledgeable as Mr. Fehribach is an indisputable delight.

Mr. Fehribach is an acclaimed chef and the owner of the Chicago restaurant Big Jones. The love he feels for the Midwest, this frequently misunderstood and stereotyped region, is evident in his book’s scope. Part cookbook, part memoir, part “Larousse Gastronomique” for the heartland, “Midwestern Food” proudly asserts the Midwest’s culinary bona fides. The text that accompanies each recipe often includes unexpected history lessons revealing the provenance, for instance, of American hot dogs and fried chicken (Midwestern, via settlers from central Europe). There are attempts to unearth the definitive origins of dishes long mired in controversy, such as St. Louis’s toasted ravioli and Minneapolis’s legendary hamburger, the Jucy Lucy. Short capsules between chapters profile luminaries from the world of Midwest cuisine, including Andy Hazzard of Hazzard Free Farm and Erika Allen of Urban Growers Collective.