As long as humans have gathered in groups, the question of what’s to eat has been a serious topic of conversation—from a freshly killed wooly mammoth to the prixe fixe menu and matching wine flight at the French Laundry. With the growth of cities and global migration, our ability to decide what we’re in the mood for has exploded. It’s a food and drink revolution that has reached every part of the country.
A recent visit to the Flathead Valley in Montana and the town of Kalispell proved an excellent example of how far we’ve come from the days when waitresses called you “Sweetie” and poured black coffee for 50 cents a cup with endless refills to today, when you’re more likely to hear some nose-pierced barista shouting out, “one skinny-vanilla-oat-milk-latte for Heidi!”…