Dig-IN A Taste of Indiana

 

Yesterday was a beautiful, warm, sunny day in downtown Indianapolis.  It was perfect weather to spend downtown, outside at the third annual Dig-IN A Taste of Indiana event.  

 

Brian and I purchased tickets to this event all the way at the beginning of the month.  I saw a discount for it on Twitter, read about what the event actually was, and Brian made the immediate impulse purchase of the tickets, but I am sooo glad that he did!

Dig-IN is an annual event that “demonstrates that investment in Indiana food and agriculture, through education, experiences and  conversation, benefits our community and economy.”  This event truly showcased and advocated the slow food lifestyle while featuring local food and food growers, while providing educational speakers about food from local food producers and experts.

Not only was this event educational and tasty while celebrating Indiana’s farmers, it was simple!  All that we did was purchase our ticket in advance, check-in, receive a wristbad, and a passport telling us what was at each station and where each station was.  Once we were in, each taste was included in the ticket price.  The only extra thing that needed to be paid for were full glasses of beer and wine, but tastings were complimentary!

 

We met up with Kegan and Tori for our afternoon full of Indiana eats.

 

As we entered, it was almost overwhelming.  There were so many booths, we didn’t really know where to start.  We were extremely hot, and the first thing we saw was a frozen treat that we immediately gravitated toward.

 

The treat was a blueberry buttermilk popsicle from Nicey Frozen Treats, and it was so good!  Very creamy, and very delicious.

 

We then wandered on to sample more things.  Brian found some chicken and noodles.

 

I then saw some homemade maple syrup, and rather than trying a sample, I tried to listen in on what sounded like the recording of a commercial!

 

Best Boy & Co had some delicious chocolate sauces and barbeque sauces.  My favorite was a hot mustardy sauce…it tasted like mustard pretzels!…and my second favorite was the chili hot fudge.  The chili hot fudge was so smoky and flavorful, yet sweet at the same time.  Yum!

 

They even had eco friendly spoons for us to sample with.

 

Frittle Candy offered a tasty selection of peanut brittle with sesame seeds.  It was nutty, tasty, crunchy, and sticky.  The mini treat was so simple and cute all the way down to the brown boxes with their logo stamped on it and their mini business cards.  I loved it!

 

The wine cake mix samplings.  It was very tasty (we tried the strawberry), and I felt pretty clever since I had done this myself before with just a regular box of cake mix!

 

We then wandered around to the back of the park, and Brian heard a familiar voice.  We popped inside the tent with the Dig-IN Speaker Series to see one of our classmates and his friend from Butler, Kristin Hess!

 

She is pretty awesome and worked with David Hoppe to create a book called “Food for Thought:  An Indiana Harvest.”  This book really captures the personality of Indiana food through stories and beautiful photos taken by Kristin herself.  It was really a neat experience to sit in and listen to them both speak so candidly about their experiences gathering these stories and photos from Indiana food growers and producers.  I definitely want a copy of that book!

After listening to Kristin, it was time to head to the wine tent.

 

Not only were tastings included in our ticket price, but we got nice, glass Dig-IN wine glasses to take home.

 

Then, it was time for some food truck action.  Brian’s favorite dish came from a food truck called Spice Box that featured Indian dishes.  The dish served yesterday was Channa Masala, a sample of spiced chicken and chickpeas.

 

My favorite came from this little food truck, Duos.

 

It was a potato, mustard greens, and goat cheese quesadilla with salsa verde.  All of this was served on a whole wheat tortilla.  Seriously, it was soooo good!  I think I am going to try to recreate it at home sometime 🙂

 

We then sampled our way through some more wine and delicious eats.

 

Zest! Exciting Food Creations, Indianapolis featuring house-made ricotta with peach and white corn puree topped with Twisted Sistaz popcorn made exclusively for them by Just Pop In!.

 

These cookies were by Just Rennie’s Cookie Co. and they were seriously the bomb.  They were soft and delicious, and so gooey.  They were really, really good.  Out of the three flavors sampled, the Cranberry cookies were my favorite.  I think I am going to recreate that recipe too!

 

We then stopped at the Traders Point Creamery booth.  I have eaten at this restaurant once and want to take Brian their because I know he will love the delicious cheese.  This farm is completely organic and raises their own grass fed cows, pigs, and organic free range chickens.  Their sample was a delicious gazpacho…so good.

 

I started to chat with one of the ladies at their booth, who happened to be the marketing manager.  She gave me a block of their famous Fleur de la Terre cheese to sample, and boy is it delicious.  The taste is slightly sharp, salty and just plain good!  I made sure to save some to experiment with in a recipe this week.

 

Fermenti Artisan featured their fermented garden krout with capriole and farms old Kentucky Tomme (goat cheese).  Tasty.

 

Our last taste of the day was at Black Swan Brew Pub’s booth.  I seriously have to take my mom and sister there when they visit next time.  Their sample was the Black Swan Signature Reuban, and it was so good.  I requested mine without the meat and was seriously impressed by the delicious flavor of the entire little sample.

 

They built the sandwich right in front of us, then torched the top to melt the cheese.  How cool is that!?

 

All in all, Dig-IN was an amazing experience and way to showcase Indiana food and agriculture, and I cannot wait to go back next year!