Regional Foods: Fish Boil

What do you think of when someone wants “American” food? Some of the first things that come to mind are hotdogs and hamburgers. In fact, most people don’t associate America with really having a food culture, at least not in the same way that France or Italy does. Most people, both in and outside the US associate the United States with fast food. In this series I will explore regional foods within the United States in order to bring to light a deeper food culture and one that Americans can be proud of. In this post I will focus on fish boils in Wisconsin.

Fish boils are one of my favorite cooking spectacles. My family goes to Door County, Wisconsin every summer for vacation and we always plan to go to a fish boil while we are there. Door County is a cluster of little towns on the peninsula that juts out into Lake Michigan from Wisconsin. This makes it the perfect place to have fish boils. A fish boil is a very specific cooking procedure in which a giant tub of water is placed over a wood fire outside. The chef then adds salt and vegetables, usually potatoes and onions, to the water and cooks them until they are tender. Then, they add the fish, traditionally Whitefish. The pot is then covered and cooked for a few minutes. After the fish oils have risen to the top of the water, the chef throws a tiny bit of kerosene into the fire and the flames leap up into the air, engulfing the pot. It is then served, family-style until there is nothing left.

This tradition is traced back to the Scandinavians who settled in the area. The story goes that many of these Scandinavian settlers became either loggers or fishermen in the area. At the end of the day, when both the loggers and fishermen were done with work, they would get together and have a huge fish boil since fish were abundant and this was a quick way to feed a lot of people. It has since become a tourist activity and is just one of the many draws to Door County. I think the reason for that is because of its regionality. There is no other place that has this dish except for a few other places along the Great Lakes. This is because Lake Whitefish are only found in the northern United States and Canada, and this cooking technique is Scandinavian in origin. Therefore, Door County was the perfect place for this culinary tradition to take root and form.

The other reason why I appreciate this is the fact that the community embraces it as theirs. They aren’t trying to do “their take” on Italian food or German food or anything like that. They own this tradition, saying that no one else is responsible for this than them. They took their Scandinavian heritage and combined it with their new environment to make something unique. It is hard not to draw comparisons with Italians, who after receiving the tomato from Central America, completely owned it. To the point where now, you can’t think of a tomato without thinking of Italy. And Italy is one of the most respected culinary regions in the world. This shows me that the United States doesn’t have to be known for fast food and being unhealthy, we have our own unique culinary traditions hidden away. All we have to do is bring them into the light.