Food Traditions
What we eat says a great deal about who we are and where we came from. Special foods help to reinforce and maintain group and family identity and become the focus of celebrations, holidays or rites of passage. Many foods brought to the U.S. from other countries have been adapted through the generations to fit their new environment.
The Great Lakes Folk Festival strives to offer visitors a variety of food offerings, especially traditional food items they might only sample in certain ethnic or geographic regions. In addition, the festival hosts food offerings supplied by local restaurants and civic or community organizations.
Information for Food Vendors
Information for Traditional and Non Traditional Food Vendors
The Taste of Tradition Vendors
Click on the name or scroll down to see more info about the vendors
(updated 6/15/05)
Local and Other Food Vendors
Melting Moments-Locally produced Ice Cream Treats
Blimpies- Classic American Subs ( Hoagies, or Heros)
Somethin's Poppin'- Sweet and crunchy Kettle corn
Flats Grill- Yummy Quesadilla style sandwiches
Cottage Inn- Pizza, a college classic! Lots of non students like it too!
Tammy's Elephant Ears- A county fair tradition, sweet fried dough topped with
powdered sugar or apple pie filling.
Police Athletic League (PAL)- Provides cold soft drinks at several locations throughout the festival site.
Amist concessions
Chinese Family buffet
East Lansing Food Cooperative- Wraps and veggie cuisine
Mediterranean Cuisine
A.J. Rib Experience
Lansing, Michigan
barbecue
Barbecuing ribs is an art and practitioners have their own discrete methods. Some marinate, some baste with vinegar, some boil, some bake, and some smoke the meat. Ribs can be cooked long and slow or hot and fast. Some like their ribs moist and tender; others argue that only firm and chewy will do. And what of the sauce or spices? Some use commercially bottled sauce that they adjust to their taste, while others make their sauce from scratch, often using a family recipe. Others rub the ribs with spices and may or may not use sauce. There is wide variation in the degree of spiciness and sweetness. In Michigan ribs are a popular foodways, about which everyone has a strong opinion. Allen Jones's barbecued ribs are rubbed with a secret seasoning and smoked.
Allen Jones moved with his family from Chicago to Flint in 1969. As a child, he already had aspirations of being a chef and began cooking at the age of 5 under the direction of his mother, grandmother, and great great uncle. He attended prestigious culinary art schools in Arkansas and Boston and is now a certified chef. He applied his culinary skills at the Michigan School for the Blind until the school closed in 1994, when he turned to catering. Today his family's southern culinary heritage is but one part of his cooking repertoire. He did not begin to barbecue until the late 1990s, when he saw a fellow barbecuing and selling ribs on a street corner and he knew he wanted to do this. When not at the Great Lakes Folk Festival, Allen can be found selling ribs on the corner of Pleasant Grove and Hamilton.
Altu's Ethiopian Cuisine
East Lansing, Michigan
Ethiopian foods
Spices play an esential role in Ethiopian cuisine, which ranges from delicate and appealing to hot and and almost addictive. Berbere, a mixture of spices and fiery ethiopian red pepper, is used for everything from a rich man's delicacy to a poor man's chunk of bread. the national dish of Ethiopia, a stew called wat, is made with chicken fish and meats but the finest wats are made with lentils, beans or chickpeas. When served, food is placed atop injera, a thin, round bread made of finely ground teff, a high-quality millet, and eaten with the right hand by tearing off pieces of injera and dipping into or wrapping the piece around bite-sized food.
Altu Tadesse is from western Ethiopia. She was raised on her family's farm and by the age of twelve, she was cooking complete meals. Altu came to the United States with her husband in 1986. She opened her popular restaurant in East Lansing in 1996 and serves fine examples of Ethiopian food.
Fonda Celaya
Bath, Michigan
Mexican foods
Maria ("Lupe") Aguilar left Mexico decades ago, now lives in Bath, Michigan and is an active member of the Cristo Rey community in Lansing. At church and Latino festivals, she prepares and sells Mexican foods, some from her hometown, Celaya, Guanajuato. For more than 25 years she has been making tamales, both the savory variety with pork, which most Michiganders know, and the sweet variety, which Mexican-Americans favor at Christmas and other festive occasions. For nearly as long, she has made and sold gorditas, thick shells made from masa that are filled with meat, potatoes and vegetables or vegetables and cheese. Another of her specialties are flautas, a form of taco found in northern Mexico; a tortilla is filled with beef, generally, then rolled and fried. Lupe cooks the real Mexican food, the same as she prepares for her grandchildren and very different than anything you are likely to find at commercial establishments.
Federated Polish Home
Lansing, Michigan
Polish foods
The Federated Polish Home is a social and fraternal hall built by Polish immigrants in about 1926. It is made up of three Polish fraternal organizations: Polish National Alliance, Polish Falcons, and White Eagles. These organizations were started by immigrants to provide accident and death insurance coverage to members from Poland and their families. In addition to their function as insurance providers, these organizations also are social organizations. Among other things, they sponsor dinner dances at which Polish foods prepared by members are sometimes served.
Pierogi are very popular dumplings that symbolize Polishness in the United States. They have a variety of fillings, including cheese and potato, which are offered by the Federated Polish Home, along with homemade kielbasa (sausage) and sauerkraut.
Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church
Lansing, Michigan
Greek Foods
Ethnic churches in America are very important in maintaining culinary traditions, a role they do not usually have in their countries of origin. Cornish-American churches hold pasty bake sales, Serbian-American chuches have summer lamb roasts, and Armenian-American churches hold regular bazaars at which a wide range of Armenian foods are sold, both to take home and to eat on site. The Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church of Lansing is no excpetion. Among other food events, the congregation hosts a fundraising luncheon featuring Greek cuisine prepared by the Greek Orthodox Ladies Philoptochos Society.
Church members are now second and third generation Americans and include a number of other ethnics united by eastern rite Orthodox faith, as well as converts in marriage. The food, however, is steadfastly Greek.
House of Kabobs
Lansing, MI
Armenian Foods
Armenian cuisine has its roots in antiquity, and it has been said food is one of the cornerstones of Armenian culture today. Influenced by the foods of Greek, Roman, Persian, Arab, Central Asian, and Turkish culture, Armenians have also influenced the food cultures of their neighbors and people passing through their territory. Pride in their national heritage is expressed through food and Armenians have maintained their traditional, richly varied, and to some even exotic, cuisine, using fresh and dried fruits, honey, rose water, nuts, herbs and spices in both sweet and savory dishes. Much is also familiar in Armenian cuisine. Cheese has been a basic from ancient times; rice and cracked wheat are the most widely used grains; lamb is the preferred meat, often cooked on a spit over wood or charcoal embers.
Armenia has existed under different names since ancient times and is referred to in the Bible as the land of Mount Ararat, where Noah's Ark is believed to have landed after the Deluge. Located along the trade routes between the Black and Caspian Seas, this territory was often a battleground and conquered by invading armies. Today Armenians are widely dispersed; many from Turkey and the Middle East made their way to the United States in the early 20th century. In the 1980s some 40 Caucasian Armenian families from Azerbaijan and Russia settled in the East Lansing area. One of these families, the Gevorkyans, catered locally for a number of years and recently opened the House of Kabobs, a welcome addition to the area. The restaurant name recalls shish kabob, for which Armenians are best known in this country, and offers a selection of Armenian and Russian specialties, some of which are available at the festival.
Lopez Bakery
Lansing, Michigan
Mexican pastries
The Spanish introduced a wide array of foods and a new meal system to the Prehispanic culture of Mexico. One of the new ingredients incorporated into the foodways of Mexico was wheat. Using wheat flour, Mexicans have developed over the centuries many and varied kinds of pastries and rolls.
The Lopez Bakery offers a wide selection of traditional Mexican pastries. Pedro Lopez started baking in Mexico when he was nine years old. Now in his 70s he is a master baker, and he and his son Jose offer a selection of their delicious sweet breads, cookies, and rolls, which are eaten for breakfast, supper or as a snack.
Maria's Tacos
Lansing, Michigan
Tex-Mex foods
The term "Tex Mex" designates Texas Mexicans (Tejanos) and their culture. Much of the cuisine we know in Michigan as Mexican is Tex Mex, brought by families who settled in Michigan from Texas and by seasonal agricultural workers from Texas who live part of the year in Michigan.
The Espinoza family's ancestors emigrated from Mexico to Texas during the Great Depression. Highway construction work in the 1950s brought the grandparents of James Espinoza to Michigan, and ultimately his family turned to agricultural work and settled in the Thumb region. James Espinoza and his mother, Maria, made and sold tacos for the first time at a Croswell festival three years ago. They make tacos the way their family has made them for generations, with corn tortillas, cheddar cheese, beef or chicken seasoned with cumin and garlic, lettuce, tomato, and mild homemade salsa. This, according to James, is the "real" Tex-Mex taco from the region of Corpus Christi. In addition, they offer burritos, which James describes as taco ingredients plus beans wrapped in a flour tortilla.
Sahara's
Okemos, MI
Arab Foods
Michigan is home to the largest, densest, Arab-speaking population outside of the Middle East. In southeast Michigan alone, it numbers c. 450, 000 and is comprised of many religions, nations, ethnic groups, and regional cuisines. The greater Lansing area is also home to a number of Arab-speakers, reflecting the same diversity as found in southeast Michigan. Some have lived here all their lives and others arrived in the last decades. Regardless, great value is attached to cooking and consuming traditional Arabic foods.
The generous use of herbs, spices, and aromatics generally defines food from the Arab world. Although comprised of many local and regional variations, most cuisines include rice and wheat dishes, stuffed vegetables, savory pies wrapped in paper-thin pastry, various methods for roasting meats, thick omelets, scented rice puddings, nut-filled pastries, fritters soaked in syrup, and a variety of fruits and vegetable juices.
Lebanon is one of only two Middle Eastern countries to have a highly developed restaurant tradition. Lebanese emigrant cooks and restaurateurs brought Arab cuisine to the attention of the world. In Michigan, the majority of Arab bakeries and restaurants, like Sahara's of Okemos, offer Lebanese foods. Ahmad Elbast, the proprietor and one of the cooks, apprenticed at another well known Lansing-area restaurant, Woody's Oasis, before following his dream of owning his own restaurant. He takes great pride in serving the best in Lebanese food.
Taste of India
Lansing, Michigan
Asian Indian food
The Asian Indians of Michigan come from different regions of India. They are from different cultural and social backgrounds, representing different religions, classes, and languages. They are Hindus, Muslims, Jains, Sikhs, Buddhists, Christians, Parsees and Jews, speaking 16 languages or one of 225 dialects. This diversity is also reflected in their foods.
One of the most distinctive aspects of Indian food is the preparation and combination of spices that makes this cuisine unique; cooked with meats or vegetables, the dish is memorable. Whether or not they are vegetarians, vegetables are an extremely important part of the Indians' diet.
In mid-Michigan, many of the Indians who have come since the 1960s are professionals. At that time, a generic Indian food was available in restaurants, which often served foods proprietors believed Americans wanted. Today, more and more restaurants and caterers serve the foods of their regional origins.
We are fortunate to have one of these caterers at the Great Lakes Folk Festival. Uma Patel left her home in India some twenty years ago for Lansing, where she has lived ever since. She enjoys a reputation as a good cook and since 1996 has provided several local restaurants with her Indian pastries and samosa. In this way she began her catering.
Thai Food
Mason, Michigan
The cuisine of Thailand is a very special combination of the bite of Szechuan Chinese, the tropical flavor of Malaysian, the creamy coconut sauces of south Indian, and the aromatic spices of Arabic food. Situated at the crossroads of Asia, many cultures have played a role in the development of Thailand's cuisine. The people of Thailand take pride in the harmony of tastes, colors, and textures of their food.
Lamai came to Lansing in 1970 from Bangkok, where she gained restaurant experience helping in her sister's restaurant. With a varied and traditional menu, including Pad Thai, fresh and fried egg rolls, crab rangoon, fried rice with vegetables, and chicken curry, Lamai devotes herself to bringing Thai food to others.
United Methodist Women
Holldand, Michigan
Dutch Pigs in a Blanket
A major stream of Dutch immigration to America began in the 1840's, arriving in western Michigan in 1847. Within two years, despite malaria, smallpox, dysentery, insufficient food, and other impediments, Dutch immigrants had established Holland, Zeeland, Vriesland, Drenthe, and Graafschap. Subsequent immigrations in the 1880's and after World War II scattered Dutch throughout the state, although the highest concertration still is in western Michigan.
Dutch Americans have made major contributions to American culture through politics and government, education, industry and foodways. Today's all-American foods, such as cookies, pancakes, waffles, doughnuts, pretzels and coleslaw, were originally brought to this country by early Dutch settlers. A Dutch-American food not yet widely known is "pigs in a blanket" (saucijzenbroodjes), a popular treat offered by the Women's Club of the First United Methodist Church of Holland, Michigan.
Woody's Oasis
East Lansing, Michigan
Arab foods
Outside of the Middle East, Michigan is home to the largest Arabic-speaking population, comprising many religions, nations, ethnic groups, and regional cuisines.
Great value is attached to cooking and good food in the Middle East. It is a sensual kind of cooking, generously using herbs, spices, and aromatics. Most local cuisines include rice and wheat dishes, stuffed vegetables, pies wrapped in paper-thin pastry, various methods for roasting meats, meatballs, thick omelettes, cold vegetables cooked in oil, scented rice puddings, nut-filled pastries, fritters soaked in syrup and a variety of fruit and vegetable juices.
Some areas are known for a highly developed cuisine. Lebanon, for example, is one of only two Middle Eastern countries to have a highly developed restaurant tradition. Lebanese emigrant cooks and restaurateurs brought Arab cuisine to the attention of the world. In Michigan, the majority of restaurants and bakeries offer Lebanese foods. Woody's Oasis, the first Arab restaurant in the area, has pleased its customers with Lebanese foods.
Zemer's Rootbeer
Tyler, Texas
homemade rootbeer
Rootbeer is an all-American drink that dates from the mid-nineteenth century. Chris Zemer is a fourth-generation rootbeer maker and vendor; his great grandfather started his rootbeer business in Ionia in the 1920s. From a stand made by his grandfather and great grandfather in the 1920s, Chris and his wife Joy have been selling rootbeer since 1991. Chris's grandfather made the counters and his great grandfather had used the rootbeer barrel, both of which are part of the stand. The stand is a highly valued family heirloom and the rootbeer business, a long family tradition.
With this history, Chris has stories to tell. He won't give us his secret recipe, but he will tell you there's nothing better than an ice cold glass of his homemade rootbeer. "Once you taste my rootbeer," Chris boasted, "you'll never want anyone else's."
