National parks generally aren鈥檛 known for their food. A lot of this is because concessionaires at big parks like Yellowstone, Yosemite, and Grand Canyon don鈥檛 have much competition. Thus, your $24 elk burger is usually just seven bites of dry regret.
Food is an important part of our heritage, though, and the National Park Service, which is tasked with protecting our cultural treasures, in some cases has also worked to preserve agricultural and culinary traditions. Across the country, parks have reestablished farming operations, coddled antique orchards, and supported festivals celebrating the diverse tastes of America. Here are some of the best places to fill your plate.
The Farms of Cuyahoga Valley National Park
In 1999, Cuyahoga Valley National Park, just south of Cleveland, Ohio, instituted the , which established 11 farms throughout the park, each leased for up to 60 years to local farmers who live on the land with their families. 鈥淭he valley has a long history of agriculture,鈥 says Pamela Barnes, the park鈥檚 spokesperson.
The farms include a vineyard, a pick-your-own berry farm, several vegetable farms, and a poultry farm. One lease stipulation compels the farmers to interact with the public, whether that鈥檚 through tours, educational programs, or, in one case, theater productions in a barn.
The Smithsonian鈥檚 Folklife Festival on the National Mall
For two weeks every summer, the 聽is taken over by this from the United States and abroad. Each year, the event, which is put on by the Smithsonian Institution, has a different focus. This year鈥檚 focus was Armenia and Catalonia, so food tents were brimming with khorovats (grilled meat skewers from Armenia) and tasty meats smothered in Catalonian romesco sauce. While many people come for the music, dancing, arts, and crafts, they stay for the food.
Fruit Picking at Capitol Reef (and Beyond)
Back in 1881, a Mormon pioneer named Nels Johnson arrived in what would later become Fruita, Utah, and thought it looked like an ideal place for a homestead. He was right. The site he chose 鈥渋s in a fertile floodplain at the confluence of two rivers, the Sulfur Creek and the Fremont River,鈥 says Amanda Snodgrass, a horticulturalist for Capitol Reef.
When the park was established, in 1971, were preserved. 鈥淭hey had historic cultural significance, and we wanted to preserve the heirloom fruit varieties,鈥 Snodgrass says. Today, there are 3,100 organic fruit trees, including three heirloom varieties that have never been found anywhere else.
Visitors can pick fruit during the summer and fall harvest seasons, but the orchards are worth visiting year-round if you鈥檙e interested in historical management practices. 鈥淭here are 12 miles of hand-dug ditches that we use for irrigation,鈥 Snodgrass says.
If you鈥檙e too far from Utah to make it in time for the harvest, there are orchards in several other national parks around the country where you can pick fruit. in Pennsylvania lets visitors pick apples in autumn. in California allows visitors to pick up to a quart of fruits from its orchard. At Gettysburg National Military Park, you can鈥檛 pick the fruit, but you can buy cider made from the park鈥檚 apples at .
Goat Cheese Goodness at the Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site
Lilian Sandburg, wife of Pulitzer Prize鈥搘inning poet Carl Sandburg, was a champion goat breeder. When the couple moved from Michigan to this country estate in North Carolina, Lilian brought along her herd. Today, the park still keeps goats on the premises in the . Rangers lead programs on how to milk goats and turn that milk into fresh goat cheese.
Cactus Cooking at Saguaro National Park
Before Saguaro National Park was a unit of the NPS, the indigenous Tohono O鈥檕dham people harvested the fruits of the saguaros each summer. That tradition continues today, despite some over the years with the park service about whether it was environmentally safe to pick the fruits. (It is.) While the saguaro harvest is reserved for the Tohono O鈥檕dham, visitors can watch and learn to cook and eat the fruit in the traditional way.