The green chile of Northeast Wisconsin

I had lunch with a supplier last week and we went to a very nice place in Neenah that's known for its soup and salads. I had the "three chicken salads", which was Waldorf, curry and something else on a bed of lettuce with all sorts of fresh veggies and a light dressing. And craisins.

Craisins are dried cranberries which are usually a little bit sweetened with something. Cranberries grow in Wisconsin so they feature in lots of dishes. I've noticed when travelling that when a place has a signature food, they don't just serve it as a feature on its own, they work it into every recipe they serve, whether its seems to belong there or not. My Mom first noticed this in New Mexico. They stopped with some friends and ordered a hamburger, but it came with super-hot green chile and the friends couldn't eat it. Green chile is a signature dish in New Mexico, so they serve it on everything - not just the Mexican-Southwestern food where it belongs but on hamburgers, beside the scrambled eggs in the morning, in a little cup beside your lunch sandwich.

In Tasmania it was salmon. On every restaurant menu instead of a choice between a Caesar Salad and a Chicken Caesar Salad, you had a choice between a Caesar Salad and a Caesar Salad with Salmon. Every sandwich included smoked salmon on it, and it, not chiles, appeared beside the scrambled eggs at breakfast.

Here it's craisins. I returned to the same restaurant later in the week for a lunch with my sister and cousin, who were both in town at the same time, and for variety I ordered the Tuna Melt Panini. Guess what was in the tuna salad? Craisins.