For the waves of immigrants who, over the last three hundred years, have transformed the prairie from a vast sea of grasses into the vibrant human landscape we now call the Midwest, sitting down to supper with family and friends always has been an opportunity to give thanks for the bounty of the new land. That it also has been, and remains now more than ever, the occasion for eating some truly good food is the subject Judith M. Fertig joyfully explores in these pages.