On the Coffee Table: Marilyn Hagerty

Title: Grand Forks: A History of American Dining in 128 Reviews

Author: Marilyn Hagerty

via Amazon

Marilyn Hagerty has been writing for the Grand Forks Herald in North Dakota since the 1950s.  She's had a regular column by the '70s often, but not exclusively, about local restaurants.  She became a national media darling when her review of a newly opened Olive Garden went viral.  The review is notable for the fact that she provided an unironic reflection on a well-known chain restaurant.  

Grand Forks is a greatest hits compilation of her food columns between 1987 and 2012.  Through it all, you see the evolution of the American restaurant industry: dramatic changes in prices, of course, but also the expanding international food palette of the Heartland.  The meat and potatoes of the late '80s evolves to include established Thai, Japanese, Mexican and Cajun enterprises by the 21st century.  

I found an elegance in Hagerty's writing.  "High tea has come to North Dakota, and it's doing very well, thank you," opens one review.  You may think you write sentences like that all the time but fair reader, you probably don't.  Try reading it out loud.  It combines percussive consonants with a lilting melody.  I hear the voice of my own Nebraska relatives speaking those words and quickly grasp the subtle rebuke for my presumptions about provincial quaintness.  Hagerty is midwestern nice, clearly preferring to say something nice about every subject.  But as her son James R. Hagerty, a Wall Street Journal reporter, suggested, "If she writes more about the décor than the food, you might want to eat somewhere else."

Most importantly, after reading I feel I know a lot more about the community of Grand Forks, North Dakota.  For those of you from the world beyond the USA, North Dakota is rather infamously the least-visited state out of our 50.  It's not that it's perceived as ugly or unpleasant so much as boring and out of the way.  The prairie states in general are patronizingly referred to by many on the coasts as America's "flyover."  North Dakota, in particular, isn't en route between major population centers no matter which direction you're driving.

In truth, I now realize Grand Forks, North Dakota isn't so different from Burlington, Vermont.  And they were probably a lot more similar in 1987 than they are now.  Grand Forks is actually more populous: 59,166 to Burlington's 44,743 according to the 2020 census.  Both cities are college towns with popular college hockey teams.  Politically, of course, they're at opposite American extremes.  Vermont could hardly be a bluer state, North Dakota could hardly be redder.  Burlington is closer to larger population centers: under two hours to Montreal, just over three to Boston and just over five to New York City.  GF is under three hours to Winnipeg and just under five to the Twin Cities.  I'd certainly put money on Burlington being prettier.  But there's no denying Vermont is just as provincial as North Dakota.

As such, I've felt Hagerty's influence on my own reviews.  I expect most of you reading this are no more likely to visit my little corner of the world than I am to visit hers.  That doesn't mean I can't use my reflections to share what I love about my own community.  

I enjoyed the book.  It's not exactly a flowing, cover-to-cover read but it's certainly pleasant and charming all the way through.