Today, artisanal methods are in retreat and, in many cases, live mostly in the memory and imagination of older generations. Once, in small towns everywhere, were found frittatas, “hot” chicken, cured sausage, tamales, bowls of sauerkraut, and piles of dumplings – dishes created from the surrounding countryside. This kind of food has character and stimulates a core satisfaction rarely found even in the most acclaimed restaurants of our time. It constantly fluctuates in taste and appearance as it reflects the changing soil and climate, tempered by the old habits of those who make it from one town to the next, and from one generation to the next. Food gains meaning from our knowledge of its origins, as we understand the connection between where it came from, who prepared it, and how it was made. When this tie is undone, food is much less satisfying.

The chain of supply is broken when farmer’s markets are overrun with middlemen instead of farmers, or when laws require a woman with only three dozen eggs to sell to keep careful records. It is a noble person who still takes the time to locate a supply of old-fashioned ingredients today. Paychecks go first to cell phones, and glossy entertainment. Where people once gathered their water from a well and found their pleasure at the table, today they seek satisfaction in the drive-through. In response, chefs today seduce patrons with novelty and food pyrotechnics, little towers of nothing in the center of oversized plates, while customers are increasingly distracted by what is currently stamped healthy. Artisanal beer is abandoned for a lower-calorie version. Fat is avoided like the plague. And as a result, good food has lost its luster.

This is my gastronomical journey to find the last vestiges of culinary tradition, and the people and places behind this food. Whether they are going up against the government in order to preserve the traditional method of dry-cured sausages, or going up against Mother Nature to keep disappearing potato varieties in national collections, these are people who are taking extraordinary measures to preserve good taste. When these values die, it is like setting the library on fire. Welcome to the world of sausage makers, mushroom hunters, cheese makers and chance takers, the people who make food a craft and a life’s meaning – the food heroes of our time…