I'm not watching this series, but I think you'd have to be both pretty creative and pay close attention to the history of immigration to the state, its agricultural production (11th in the nation), and its past-times to plan "themes" related to culinary identity. The joke (like in much of the Midwest) is that much of the food is pretty bland because of the heavy Nordic/Germanic background, but that doesn't mean it's impossible to find good restaurants or they couldn't challenge the chefs to put their twist on (or improve upon) traditional Norwegian/German/Cornish (Cornish miners went up north) recipes. There's a lot of farm-to-table, and there are restaurants sprinkled throughout the state that are specifically marketed as serving traditional Nordic cuisine.
Also, hunting deer and ice-fishing is a massive part of the culture (especially the north), so even if the show couldn't use wild game (illegal) they could at least challenge the chefs to do something with farmed venison or other fish found in the area. I'd say they could also take inspiration from the regional Native American tribes, where wild rice used to be a principal part of the diet, but the "real" wild rice is difficult to find and most of the state wouldn't be exposed to native cuisine except potentially at a pow-wow held at a university.
Mostly I'd say it's difficult to plan a series in Wisconsin with a centralized location, keeping in mind that Top Chef probably planned the events with a regional tourism group not necessarily interested in reflecting the reality of the state.
I'm not watching this series, but I think you'd have to be both pretty creative and pay close attention to the history of immigration to the state, its agricultural production (11th in the nation), and its past-times to plan "themes" related to culinary identity. The joke (like in much of the Midwest) is that much of the food is pretty bland because of the heavy Nordic/Germanic background, but that doesn't mean it's impossible to find good restaurants or they couldn't challenge the chefs to put their twist on (or improve upon) traditional Norwegian/German/Cornish (Cornish miners went up north) recipes. There's a lot of farm-to-table, and there are restaurants sprinkled throughout the state that are specifically marketed as serving traditional Nordic cuisine.
Also, hunting deer and ice-fishing is a massive part of the culture (especially the north), so even if the show couldn't use wild game (illegal) they could at least challenge the chefs to do something with farmed venison or other fish found in the area. I'd say they could also take inspiration from the regional Native American tribes, where wild rice used to be a principal part of the diet, but the "real" wild rice is difficult to find and most of the state wouldn't be exposed to native cuisine except potentially at a pow-wow held at a university.
Mostly I'd say it's difficult to plan a series in Wisconsin with a centralized location, keeping in mind that Top Chef probably planned the events with a regional tourism group not necessarily interested in reflecting the reality of the state.
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