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Event Wed Feb 07 2007
Ramp up for Spring
If your only experience with ramps is from merging onto the Kennedy, you might want to plan ahead to celebrate spring with The Land Connection at their annual Ramp Dinner on March 30. Ramps are a member of the allium family, which also includes leeks, and have long been used for both medicinal and culinary purposes. Although many historians agree on the idea that the name of our fair city comes from the local Native American term for these plants, which grew in abundance along the shores of Lake Michigan, perfuming the air with their oniony odor, they don’t seem to agree on the exact source however. Some claim that Native languages identified ramps as "pikwute sikakushia" (skunk plant), and called the area along the southern shore of Lake Michigan where they were found "shikako" meaning "skunk place" while others refer to the Potawatomi word "Checagou" for "wild onion." Either way, ramps are a delicious, and truly local, wild edible.
