Escape to Harbor Country with 56 lake-life recipes and stories that capture the celebratory spirit of this Michigan vacation destination.
Hungry for Harbor Country is part cookbook, part travel guide, and part personal story about a life-changing year spent in a small lakeside town in Michigan. Featuring 56 delicious, seasonal, allergy-friendly recipes and illustrated with lavish full-color photography, this cookbook evokes the scenic beauty and charm of southwest Michigan’s Harbor Country.
When Lindsay Navama and her husband relocated from California, where they’d both grown up, to Chicago, they weren’t sure what to expect beyond cold winters and a towering skyline. After a few years attempting to make the Midwest feel like home, everything changed for them when they discovered the “third coast” in southwest Michigan and bought a home in the region known as Harbor Country. Long a beloved vacation spot for people from nearby Chicago, Detroit, and Indianapolis, Harbor Country has always appealed to visitors drawn to its mix of tiny towns, freshwater beaches, and rolling countryside.
Lindsay swiftly fell in love, not only with the region’s beauty, but also with its passionate food community, bounty of seasonal produce, and the area’s many talented farmers, distillers, and artisans. The vast variety of local ingredients available—asparagus in spring, zucchini and cherries in summer, sugar pumpkins and Brussels sprouts in fall—inspired Lindsay to create her own recipes to feed family and friends.
These recipes will transport you straight to Harbor Country, even if you’ve never visited. The Seasonal Fire Pit Seafood Feast uses the freshest catch from the Flagship Fish Market and produce sourced from nearby farms to create a spread perfect for a fall cookout. Recipes for regional favorites like the Luisa’s Cafe Blueberry Mascarpone Crepes and the Whistle Stop Aunt Wilma Bar welcome readers into the Harbor Country restaurants and cafes that visitors and locals love. In addition to celebrating the many occasions for living well at the lake and beyond, many of these recipes are dairy- or gluten-free, proving that, at the lake, anyone can indulge in dishes like the Crispy Golden Oven-Baked Fried Chicken or the 100 Percent Homemade Sugar Pumpkin Pie.
Readers will fall in love with Harbor Country and with the rich food community, shops, farms, restaurants, and markets Navama discovered there. Whether you’re looking for hearty entrees for cold winter nights, sunset cocktails, sweet seasonal treats, or a healthier take on classic favorites,Hungry for Harbor Country has something for every craving—and it will have you thinking about what you’re truly hungry for, in the kitchen and beyond.
Lindsay Navama is a natural foods product expert, writer, recipe developer, and food blogger. She has appeared as the resident chef on Simon Fuller’s If I Can Dream, as a culinary guest on KTLA, and as a host on Plum TV in Aspen, Colorado. Originally from California, she now splits her time between Chicago and Harbor Country, Michigan.
