Cuisine of Michigan facts for kids

The Cuisine of Michigan is a mix of different food traditions, reflecting the many groups of people who have settled in the state over time. It gets its main flavors from Central, Northern, and Eastern Europe, as well as from Native American cooking.

A pasty, a tasty meat pie from Michigan's Upper Peninsula

Michigan's Farms and Food

Michigan is a top state for growing fruits in the U.S. These include blueberries, tart cherries, apples, grapes, and peaches. You can also find Plums, pears, and strawberries grown here. Most of these fruits grow in West Michigan because Lake Michigan helps keep the weather mild.

Michigan grows more tart cherries, blueberries, and pickling cucumbers than any other U.S. state.

Michigan also makes its own wines and beers. The state grows so many different kinds of crops that it's second only to California in farming variety! In 2010, Michigan had 54,800 farms. The most valuable farm product is milk. Other important crops are corn, soybeans, flowers, wheat, sugar beets, and potatoes. Farmers also raise animals like sheep, cattle, hogs, and chickens.

Delicious Detroit Foods

The city of Detroit and its surrounding areas are famous for many unique foods.

Coney Island Hot Dogs

One popular food is the Coney Island hot dog. You can find these at many "Coney Island" restaurants. A Coney dog is different from a regular chili dog. It's served with a special ground beef sauce, chopped onions, and mustard. Sometimes it comes with French fries.

Detroit-Style Pizza

Detroit also has its own kind of pizza, called Detroit-style pizza. It has a thick crust, is rectangular, and is influenced by Sicilian cuisine. Other Detroit foods include zip sauce, which is served on steaks. There's also the Dinty Moore sandwich, a big sandwich with corned beef, lettuce, tomato, and Russian dressing. A Chinese-American dish called warr shu gai, or almond boneless chicken, is also popular.

Detroit-style pizza is thick and rectangular.

Many well-known pizza chains started in or near Detroit. These include Little Caesars, Jet's Pizza, Hungry Howie's Pizza, and Domino's Pizza (which started in nearby Ypsilanti).

International Flavors

Detroit has many people from different countries, and their food traditions are a big part of the city's cuisine.

• Greek Food: Many Greek restaurant owners live in Detroit. So, you'll find lots of Mediterranean restaurants serving foods like gyros, hummus, and falafel.
• Polish Food: Polish dishes are also very common. These include pierogi (dumplings), borscht (beet soup), and pączki (sweet doughnuts). Bakeries in Hamtramck, Michigan, a Polish area, are famous for their pączki, especially on Fat Tuesday.
• Arabic Food: A large group of Arabic-speaking people live in Dearborn, a suburb of Detroit. This area has many Lebanese restaurants.

A Detroit-style Coney dog, a local favorite.

Lower Peninsula Specialties

Different parts of Michigan's Lower Peninsula have their own special foods.

Ann Arbor and West Michigan

In Ann Arbor, you might try the Chipati. This is a tossed salad served inside a fresh pita bread pocket with a "secret" Chipati sauce.

Dutch cuisine is common in West Michigan, especially in Ottawa County. This is because many Dutch immigrants settled there. You'll find delicious baked goods. The area is also known for the wet burrito, which is said to have started in Grand Rapids in 1966.

A wet burrito, a dish said to have started in Grand Rapids.

German Food in Frankenmuth

In Frankenmuth, German cuisine is very popular. Several restaurants there, like the Bavarian Inn, serve traditional German meals.

Cherry Capital

The Northwestern Lower Peninsula, especially around Traverse City, is famous worldwide for its cherries. Michigan grows over 90,000 tons of cherries each year, making it the top producer of tart cherries in the U.S. The Montmorency cherry is the most common type of tart cherry grown here. Traverse City even hosts the National Cherry Festival every July and is known as the "Cherry Capital of the World."

Pinconning Cheese

The city of Pinconning is called the "Cheese Capital of Michigan." It's known for its special Pinconning cheese, made by local companies.

Upper Peninsula Delights

Michigan's Upper Peninsula (often called the U.P.) has its own unique foods.

The Pasty

The pasty (pronounced PASS-tee) is probably the most famous food in the U.P. It's a kind of meat pie that was first brought to the area by miners from Cornwall. You'll find pasty restaurants and shops all over the U.P. They come in different kinds, like chicken, venison, pork, hamburger, and even pizza pasties. Many U.P. restaurants also serve potato sausage and cudighi, a spicy Italian meat.

Finnish Foods

Many Finnish immigrants settled in the western and central U.P. They brought foods like:

• Nisu: A sweet bread flavored with cardamom.
• Limppu: A type of rye bread.
• Pannukakku: A pancake that tastes like custard.
• Viili: A stretchy, fermented Finnish milk.
• Korppu: Hard slices of toasted cinnamon bread, often dipped in coffee.

Some Finnish foods like juusto (squeaky cheese, similar to Leipäjuusto) and saunamakkara (a ring-shaped sausage) are now found in most grocery stores in the U.P.

Other U.P. Treats

Maple syrup is a special local treat. Fresh fish from the Great Lakes, like lake trout, whitefish, and smelt (in spring), are widely eaten. Smoked fish is also popular. You might also find delicious thimbleberry jam and chokecherry jelly.

Trenary Toast is another snack from the U.P. It comes from Trenary, a small town. It's basically toast covered in cinnamon and sugar. The U.P., especially Marquette and Copper Country, is also known for its breweries.

Other Michigan Food Traditions

Fish Fries

Fish fries are common on Fridays and during Lent in Michigan. They are usually buffet-style with foods like rolls, potatoes (fries or mashed), salad, coleslaw, apple sauce, deep-fried fish, and sometimes fried shrimp and baked fish. Fish is popular throughout the state because Michigan is located on four of the Great Lakes. Trout, walleye, perch, and catfish are common. Whitefish is a regional specialty, especially along the coast, with smoked whitefish and whitefish dip being popular.

Michigan's Drinks

Michigan has a big wine and beer industry. The Traverse City area is a popular place to visit wineries. The state makes many kinds of wine, including Rieslings, ice wines, and fruit wines. Many small breweries have also opened, creating unique beers. Grand Rapids is even known as "Beer City USA."

Mackinac Island Fudge

Mackinac Island, located between Michigan's Upper and Lower Peninsulas, is famous for its fudge. Long ago, after the fur trade ended, the island became a popular summer vacation spot. Visitors started to love the sweets there. In 1887, the Murdick family opened the first candy shop on the island. They used fans to spread the smell of their fudge, which attracted customers. The smell of fudge became a common part of the island. Every August, the island even hosts the Mackinac Island Fudge Festival. Visitors to Mackinac Island are sometimes called "fudgies" because of this sweet treat!

Battle Creek Cereal History

W. K. Kellogg worked for his brother, John Harvey Kellogg, at a health resort in Battle Creek. One day, W.K. accidentally spilled liquid cornmeal on a hot device, which cooked it into flakes. He tasted them and added milk. Patients at the resort loved the flakes so much that W.K. decided to start his own company. He built a factory to make his "corn flakes."

Inspired by Kellogg's success, C. W. Post invented Grape-Nuts and started his own cereal company in Battle Creek. Because of these inventions, Battle Creek is nicknamed "the Cereal City."

Montmorency cherries are a common type of tart cherry grown in the Traverse City area.

Michigan Food Companies

Here are some restaurants and food companies that started in or are based in Michigan: