Terese Allen's access to fresh food as a child set the table for a career writing about it

When the Dane County Farmers' Market opened on Sept. 30, 1972, it was a way for farmers to connect with cooks and the community. Over the past 50 years it has grown to envelop Madison’s Capitol Square, becoming the country’s largest producer-only market. It’s also a place for professional chefs and home cooks of every level to find some of the best vegetables, fruits, cheeses, meats and more from around the state.

Terese Allen began shopping the market after moving to the city nearly 40 years ago. She’s become a market regular, and it’s been an ongoing inspiration for her career.

After deciding academia was not for her, Allen’s early years included running the kitchen at the now-defunct Ovens of Brittany. A cookbook featuring its recipes was one of her first published, and people still ask about some of those recipes.

Allen’s focus has always been food and cooking, with the culture and history of Wisconsin and the Midwest as integral elements woven into her books over the decades. When the Dane County Farmers’ Market’s 50th anniversary came up, one of the vendors broached the idea of creating a cookbook in its honor with Allen. Though she had retired, she immediately said yes and got to work on her 15th cookbook.

Allen worked with local chefs, farmers and community members to gather more than 100 recipes for the book — just a few less than the 450 gathered for her history of cooking in Wisconsin, the award-winning “The Flavors of Wisconsin.” James Beard Award-winning chef Tory Miller of L’Etoile wrote the new book’s introduction, while the restaurant’s founding chef, Odessa Piper, contributed a recipe for apple syrup.

The “Dane County Farmers’ Market Cookbook: Local Foods, Global Flavors” (Little Creek Press) is $35, available at the weekly market and online at dcfm.org/cookbook. All proceeds benefit the market.

Allen, a co-founder of the Culinary History Enthusiasts of Wisconsin (CHEW), splits her time between Madison and Door County. She talked by phone from her family home on Washington Island, which also happens to be her favorite place in Wisconsin.

Why Wisconsin is the perfect place for food lovers

Most people wouldn’t think where I came from is any kind of culinary mecca — Green Bay, Wisconsin. I grew up there, was there through college, then moved to Madison for graduate school. ... Green Bay is not the kind of place people think would be a good background for a good culinary career, but it actually really is. First of all, it is situated geographically where there is so much to draw from — Lake Michigan, the farmland, the lakes, the rivers, the orchards — and it is ethnically diverse at least in relation to the rest of the Midwest. There are lots of European groups and the Native tribes. I grew up downtown Green Bay where I had access to a great butcher shop, Emmel’s bakery, all those kinds of places.

My oldest sister, there are 11 of us, was married to a dairy farmer, and they had a monstrous garden. I spent a lot of time out there. We just had access to so many delicious European traditions, native food, fresh fish. My family was a cooking family.

We lost our mother when I was 4, but there were seven females and three males at the time and we all got cooking, even us younger ones would help with dinner. To this day we still have massive reunions where it is 75% about the food. I was always wanting to be in the kitchen with my older sisters. They would let me set the table, and eventually they let me in there. My father was Belgian, had a good palate, and he enjoyed food. It was a way to get attention if you cooked something good!

Why she sings the praises of Wisconsin’s food and farms

I realized early on that Wisconsin is this amazing food place. We think of it as a meat and potatoes state, basic food, plain Jane, but in fact we have these ethnic settlements around the state, even our businesses and industries are largely related to food. There is so much access and diversity, if you know where to look. It is not always in the restaurants. It is cheese shops and church suppers and farm markets .... and it keeps changing.

I’m currently on Washington Island. We spend a lot of time here, and it has been interesting as the concept of farm to table has grown. We have lavender farms; and the Washington Hotel where they are doing local produce; Gathering Ground, a sustainability group; vegetable farmers doing a market; and all the wild foods. When I started paying attention to what was right here in our state, I could see the possibilities and the career, and endless stories and recipes. That’s how it has been for the past 30 years. I’ve learned if you want to talk with somebody, food is the doorway.

How access to good food sets our state apart

Access is so much, really. I remember growing up and we’d go in the fall apple picking and hickory nut picking. We’d have a bushel of apples in the cellar and we’d have hickory nuts we’d crack on Sunday nights while watching Ed Sullivan. We had that access, and having a dairy farmer in the family, we ate garden vegetables and drank fresh milk. We cooked from scratch because that stuff was there.

There is such a rural-urban connection in Wisconsin. You’re never far from the country, whether in Milwaukee, Green Bay or Madison. There is a natural connection between the cities and larger towns. They depend on each other for sustenance and their businesses. Then Madison is a university town and it has the state capitol. There is both local and regional awareness and a global awareness. ... Dane County Farmers’ Market, it is right at the core of it all, at the end of the university area, around the Capitol Square, it is this natural place where urban and rural come together, and that’s access.

What the Dane County Farmers’ Market does better than anyone else

It is the largest producers-only market. ... DCFM has space for between 130 and 150 vendors at a time, and there is nobody that matches that for sure in Wisconsin, but there can be up to 300 members at a time. Not everybody comes all the time, but what is important is the producers have to be there selling. It cannot be secondhand selling, like at many other markets. It is also no crafts. This market is first and foremost about providing a place for Wisconsin growers and producers to market their goods.

How a visit to the indoor winter market at the Garver Feed Mill inspired a cookbook

The Garver market is the winter market (of DCFM). I go there weekly in winter also, and it was where the idea of this cookbook was born and became a reality. One of the vendor couples I have gotten to know, Joan and Ted Ballweg, they run Savory Accents, focusing on fresh and dried peppers and lots of pepper products. It was at the first Garver Feed Mill market last year, they said this is the 50th anniversary of the DCFM and the board of directors is looking for ideas on how to celebrate and market it. We think there should be a cookbook, and you should do it.

I had retired, didn’t have another project in mind. I could not resist. It was so spot on for me.

If you cook or love food, you’re her audience

Our audience is anybody who wants to cook and loves good fresh food. This is for people who are aware of food and love to cook. If you don’t love to cook, you’re not going to like this book. It is not just, "Open a can or the freezer." This is, "Purchase what looks good to you, and brighten and broaden your cooking with recipes from around the world." ... The book is about simple cooking, and being able to vary a recipe so you can use what you have on hand, what is in season or what you froze or preserved from the market. ... We included chef’s recipes and a few of those more complicated ones because chefs and very seasoned home cooks are a big part of what has advanced farmers markets; that, and dedicated home cooks.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Terese Allen's new cookbook highlights the Dane County Farmers' Market