It seems we're on a food kick. Last week our cover story spoke to the need for a public market in Madison, a place where people could go to buy the locally sourced foodstuffs that are the foundation of healthy eating. This week we look at folks who are taking some of that bounty and fashioning it into aromatic and gustatory delights for the benefit of the consuming public.
In "Flour Power," contributor André Darlington introduces us to what he believes is the second great wave in local baking in the modern Madison dining era. The first wave was in the '70s and directly inspired the contemporary "flouring" of the scene, which has ascended to a new level, he posits. I'm not going to argue, I'm just going to keep on getting those sticky pecan/banana buns for Friday meeting mornings.
We hope you had an invigorating Independence Day holiday. It is that time of year for holidays and vacations. In a college town like Madison, it is also the time for hellos and goodbyes as folks relocate during the summer. So it is that we prepare for the departure of arts and entertainment editor Kenneth Burns, who will be taking his writing and editing talents, not to mention his musical ones, to Knoxville, Tenn. Knoxville is home to the University of Tennessee, where his partner has joined the faculty after receiving a doctorate from the UW.
Burns returns to his state of origin, but he takes a lot of the Midwest back with him. He graduated from the University of Chicago and did doctoral work in poli sci at the UW. He played guitar in a number of popular rock and country outfits in Madison and Chicago (Junkers, #1Dad, Amelia Royko, World's Greatest Lovers) before joining Isthmus as an editor in 2005. We will miss his experience and solid judgment, not to mention his agreeable persona.
