What’s for lunch? On the Iron range, one answer with the weight of history is a pasty— ground meat and vegetables folded into a pastry crust. Make your way along Eat Street in Minneapolis and encounter the Somali sambusa, the Mexican torta, or the Vietnamese bánh mì. Stop by a Scandinavian hot spot to find the traditional open-faced sandwich, assembled with fresh fish and vegetables and herbs.
Beyond providing our daily bread, sandwiches carry stories and cultural traditions. In researching these tasty, tasty sandwiches, my colleagues and I fanned out across the state to sample sandwiches and chat with chefs, church ladies, fisherfolk, turkey farmers, and bartenders. The result is a book that serves up an unconventional regional history loaded with culinary anecdotes, treasured recollections and tasty recipes.
I contributed three essays to the book.
Susan Pagani 