Editor's Note

There’s so much about modern American culture that our farmer ancestors could never have imagined. The popular Facebook game FarmVille comes to mind. That’s where you sit at your computer “harvesting” corn and squash from your virtual farm while studying spreadsheets to make sure your farm is profitable. Yes… your farm… your computer farm.

Old-time Vermont hill farmers would scratch their heads and chuckle. But some cultural developments might truly fascinate them. One is the recent arrival here of immigrants from Africa and Asia, many of them refugees. Unlike most FarmVille players, a number of these immigrants used to till the soil in their native lands; now that they’re farming in Vermont they’re growing crops never seen here before (see New to America).

Another cultural development: Vermont stores and farmers’ markets are selling more foods that are popular in foreign countries but that can be made with Vermont-grown produce: kimchi, tofu, salsa. Farmers from long ago would be surprised, for example, that Vermont cabbage is being turned into one of Korea’s most popular foods (see Buried Treasue).

And the undocumented Latinos from abroad who work on Vermont’s dairy farms? Yes, another cultural development that would surprise folks from the past. The stories of these workers are harrowing. They are hard-working people who live isolated and vulnerable lives, as novelist Julia Alvarez has learned firsthand (see Farming by Writing available in print version only; click here to order the issue online). Some farmers, however, are trying to learn more about where their workers come from, and why they need to come here to work (see Mami and Papi).

But just as dairy does not comprise the whole agricultural picture in Vermont, undocumented Latinos on dairy farms do not comprise the whole immigrant picture. In this special issue of Local Banquet, we introduce you to a variety of immigrants and what they’re growing and cooking here. We also take a look at halal slaughter and share some recipes for foreign dishes that can be made with Vermont ingredients.

The immigrant picture in Vermont is about hard work, courage, determination, and adaptation—traits our farmer ancestors knew a thing or two about. Maybe they wouldn’t be so surprised by our new immigrant neighbors after all.

—Caroline Abels