It’s known as America’s Dairyland, but Wisconsin serves up an extraordinary array of edibles: produce from apples to zucchini; ethnic sausages and grass-fed meats; fish from lake and stream; foraged foods; and specialties like craft beers and cream puffs. And, oh yeah, there’s also cheese galore. The state’s lush food culture stems from its varied geography and climate, a rich tapestry of ethnic backgrounds and a deep-rooted history of dairying and mixed agriculture. In Wisconsin, we don’t just celebrate with food; we celebrate because of food.

Illustration by Hello Neighbor Designs

If you like sausages, you’ll love Wisconsin, where butcher shops churn out a cornucopia of links — the savory, spicy gift of diverse ethnic groups that have settled in the state throughout its history. The undisputed king is bratwurst, the German-style sausage that’s mandatory at picnics, tailgate parties and backyard cookouts. In fact, when the Green Bay Packers play at home, you can smell the peppery aroma for miles around Lambeau Field. Still, the most-brat-obsessed town in the state is Sheboygan, self-proclaimed Bratwurst Capital of the World, where joints like the Charcoal Inn offer a “double with the works”— two brats on an oversized hard roll with mustard, onions, pickles and ketchup. (There are locations on both sides of town; just follow your nose.)

European-born cream puffs earned local status at the Wisconsin State Fair during the 1940s, when visitors queued up in the Wisconsin Bakers Association’s facility there to get a rare taste of a wartime scarcity, whipped cream. Bakers heaped dense clouds of it into golden pastry puffs and showered the treats with powdered sugar. No wonder the demand turned into a tradition. Today, visitors down some 50,000 cream puffs a day during the fair’s two-week run. Can’t make it to the state fair? Then get thee to a dairy festival or county fair, where the longest line at the event will lead you directly to a cream puff truck or stand.

If states had official cocktails, as they do mottos, Wisconsin’s would certainly be the brandy old fashioned. Why brandy and not whiskey, as is customary elsewhere? It could be the penchant for fruit brandies that Germans brought to Wisconsin in the 19th century. It could be marketing: Some say Korbel’s introduction of its brandy in 1893 at the Columbian Expo in Chicago turned the heads of Wisconsin Germans who visited the fair and then spread the word throughout Dairyland. Old Fashioned's go hand in hand with another beloved regional institution, the supper club. At classic places like the Ding-A-Ling, the cocktails are so prevalent as an evening starter that bartenders can practically mix them with their eyes closed.