Dundee will be the last stop of the Key Ingredients Michigan Foodways tour in Michigan. The far southeastern corner of Michigan is steeped in foodways traditions dating back to pre-colonial times.

Independent Dairy
The Calder Dairy in Carleton is one of only 12 remaining family dairies in the state. It has been in operation since 1946, and still delivers glass-bottled milk to homes across Southeast Michigan.

Wine
The wine industry has regained interest in the area in recent years, including the opening of the Pentamere Winery. The industry was popular before Prohibition, but the Volstead Act made wine production for consumers illegal.

German POWs Pick Tomatoes
In World War II, Dundee housed German prisoners of war (POWs), who were enlisted to pick tomatoes at local farms for area canneries. While there are no longer tomato canning factories, tomatoes are still an important regional crop. On the other side of the Atlantic, local man who was an American POW in Germany took tomato seeds with him when he returned to the United States. He planted them in Monroe, where the heirloom tomatoes have grown ever since.

Don’s Makes a Splash
Local residents recall that in the 1960s, Don's Depot in Tecumseh attracted diners all the way from Chicago. According to them, Don would "carve the beef right in front of you." The food was served cafeteria-style; ham with raisin sauce was a dinner favorite.

Later, Don expanded and opened Don's Contented Sole, across the street from Don's Depot. This venue specialized in fish dinners. Many people in the Monroe area had cottages in the Irish Hills near Jackson. They would stop and enjoy dinner in Tecumseh – along US-12 – on the way to their cottage. Don has retired, but some of his restaurant memorabilia at Doby's Smoke House (111 W. Chicago Boulevard) in Tecumseh.

Local residents fondly recall Ford bringing a Ford car collectors club to Dundee, but on the condition that residents create food with soybeans (another one of this pet agricultural projects). This was reenacted at the Old Dundee Mill four years ago, with recipes prepared by the Michigan Soybean Council.

"Muskrat As Fish"
Eating muskrat in the region dates back to the fur trading French Canadians in the early 1700s. Descendants and those with a sense of culinary adventure still feast on "Mushrat French" in the Monroe area to celebrate this heritage. Muskrat eating spread to the Polish community in downriver Detroit and the German community in Monroe by the early 20th century.

The Monroe Yacht Club has hosted a Muskrat Dinner since 1902. A legend persists in Monroe that local Catholics, forbidden to eat meat on Fridays, successfully petitioned the Pope in Rome to declare the muskrat to be a fish, since it seems to live mostly in or around water. In 1987, the Archbishop of Detroit appalled many local Catholics by invalidating a local custom and declaring muskrat could no longer be eaten as fish. A Detroit Free Press report alerted the Michigan Department of Agriculture, which then banned the sale of muskrat for health violations. State legislators took up the cause and eventually passed legislation to provide for wild-game dinners to be excluded from meat inspections.

References:

Detroit Free Press. (1987). Downriver rally to push for the right to eat muskrat. Detroit Free Press. April 14, 1987.

Detroit Free Press. (1987). Muskrat fair game for downriver palates, especially during lent. Detroit Free Press. March 5, 1987.

Lockwood, W. G. (1999). Michigan food and foodways. 1999 Michigan Folklife Annual. Michigan State University, East Lansing, Mich.

Monroe Boat Club. (2004). How the muskrat became a fish. [online resource]

Monroe Democrat. (1891). Muskrat-marsh beef. The Monroe Democrat. August 4, 1891.

Monroe Democrat. (1905). The muskrat banquet. The Monroe Democrat. November 24, 1905.

Monroe Democrat. (1906). Muskrat dinner, 2000 eaten. The Monroe Democrat. January 5, 1906.

Personal interview. (2006. November 14). Alexin, S. (Old Mill Dundee), Fuentes, C. (Cabela's), Gerten, E. (Pentamere Winery), Heck, S. (Scott's Deli), Heinlen, M. (Old Mill Dundee), Knoop, B. (Holiday Inn Dundee), Massingill, S. (Old Mill Dundee), Measel, D. (Pentamere Winery), Noble, N. (Calder Dairy), Patterson, J. (Monroe County Convention & Visitors Bureau), Roe, L., Stanger, J. (MSU Extension)

Time magazine. (1945). Dynamic Kernels. Time Magazine. July 30, 2945.

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