A Local Row

I've had a copy of Kurt Friese's book Slow Food in the Heartland for about four months and just got around to writing about it. Friese's restaurant Devotay isn't my favorite local food haunt in Iowa City -- that honor goes to the Motley Cow. But no one has been a greater local foods booster in this area than Friese. His book features mini-profiles of farmers and food artisans in the Midwest who follow sustainable practices, and it's the first book to make any assessment of the Slow Food movement in the Midwest. Despite its unfortunate cover, which printed a little dark and could have used some better fonts, Slow Food in the Heartland is worth checking out, if only to familiarize yourself with the Midwestern products you should be incorporating into your diet.