"Sometimes you need an outsider’s perspective to truly understand what you have.
That perspective came last week by the way of best selling author/writer Michael Ruhlman and award winning chef Brian Polcyn. The two were in Traverse City for Pigstock and visited area farms, wineries, breweries and restaurants. They addressed 200 guests at the Pigstock dinner to benefit the new 10 Cents A Meal program that serves local farm products at area school lunch programs.
The underlying message from both was that the region has become a “mini mecca” when it comes to food and drink. The question they posed to those of us in the audience was, what are we going to do to maximize the potential we have to create a major economic engine out of all that we have?
To a certain extent, without any real organization or structure over the past 20 years we have seen numerous wineries, breweries, distilleries, restaurants and small farm operations sprout up in the region. The impact on our economy and tourism industry as a result has been huge. But we need to do more, when outsiders like Polcyn, Ruhlman and others visit our area they come to the immediate conclusion we are sitting on a goldmine."
More here : Northern Express 
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