By Mara Gorman for USA TODAY

Whether you’re sampling small plates at Supper Restaurant or shopping for your supper at the Reading Terminal Market, you don’t

have to leave Center City to get a taste of local produce, meat, beer, and wine.

But what you do miss out on is an understanding of the food’s context. Where was it grown? Who owns the farm? A simple way to get answers to these questions and enjoy still more great eating is to head about 60 miles west of Philadelphia to Lancaster County.

This county, rich in agriculture, is a great place for any locavore to visit. Whether you like to tour vineyards, shop at farmers markets, or enjoy a local dessert, such as shoofly pie, Lancaster County has all this and more.

Part of the pleasure of seeking food in and around Lancaster is the chance to drive through acres of open rolling fields in search of it. Fieldstone houses and clapboard barns are silhouetted against the sky. Many of the fields are plowed and tilled by Amish workers using horses.

The public’s fascination with the Amish lifestyle has generated an entire tourism industry in the area. Kitschy fixtures include the Dutch Haven Restaurant, which is shaped like a windmill, and the Dutch Wonderland Amusement Park.

But look beyond the camp and the busloads of tourists, and you’ll see that the Amish are the reason Lancaster County remains so lovely—and the food so good.

MarketsCentral Market (23 North Market St.,

Lancaster; centralmarketlancaster.com) in downtown Lancaster claims to be the country’s oldest farmers market, operating continuously since 1730. More than 60 vendors, including many local farms, sell

everything from an Amish breakfast specialty called scrapple, which is made of pork pieces and cornmeal, to artisanal cheese, cannoli, and fresh flowers.

Pick up a cup of locally roasted, single-origin coffee at Market House Coffee and Snacks to sip while you browse. Organic produce, raw milk, and local eggs are avail-able at Green Circle Organics. And don’t miss the fresh salsa and burritos ($6.50–$8) at Señorita Burrita.

Don’t let the cute name of Kitchen Kettle

Village (3529 Old Philadelphia Pike, Inter-course; 800-732-3538; kitchenkettle.com) turn you off. This complex of shops in Intercourse, a town just west of Lancaster, offers lots of local fare.

Like many businesses in the region, the village’s origins are with a single family. It started as a jam and jelly shop, which opened in Pat and Bob Burnley’s garage in 1954. The business is still family owned, and you can still shop at the Jam and Relish Kitchen.

More than 80 products—from pickles to jam to Chow Chow (a kind of pickled, sweet-and-sour succotash)—are made by hand in small batches by a coterie of Amish cooks. Try a sample or two. They’re available throughout the store.

While not all of the ingredients are local (year-round production of jams and pickles means some produce must be shipped in), farms in Pennsylvania and New Jersey supply much of the raw goods. Take home a sampler box of jams and pickles, which start at $20 for two quart-sized jars.

When you’ve had your fill of preserves, step across the way to the Smokehouse

Shop. Here you will find local hams, bacon, cheeses, and other smoked meat products like spicy beef sticks. At $11.59 per pound, this gourmet Amish Slim Jim is completely addictive.

restaurantsBased in the stylish Lancaster Arts Hotel,

John J. Jeffries (300 Harrisburg Ave., Lancaster; 717-431-3307; johnjjeffries.com) leads the locavore restaurant movement in Lancaster. Eighty percent of the restaurant’s menu comes from local sources, and virtu-ally everything is organic and sustainable.

The dinner menu changes seasonally and includes small and large plates. You’ll find a mix of cuisines as well. Small plates might include Asian-inspired dishes like jim bim bop, spicy rice balls with pork, kimchi, and a fried egg, $8. Or try a Southern specialty like release the kracklin, sea salted crackling pork served with heirloom tomatoes, cucumbers, and feta cheese, $7.

The large plates menu includes not only duck and salmon but grass-fed beef and pork prepared with chili and eggs ($18). Local wines and beers are also available.

eat sourceatthe

atNosh your way through Amish country, one shoofly pie at a time

Discover LancasterPA.com/ Terry Ross

Back country: A horse and buggy travels along a Lancaster County road that twists among acres and acres of rolling farmland.

the

By the numbers

5,462Farms in Lancaster County, which

produce about 20 percent of Pennsylvania’s agricultural products.

Cafe Chocolate (40 East Main St., Lititz; 717-626-0123; chocolatelititz.com), about 20 minutes north of Lancaster, is serious about its chocolate offerings.

Every meal starts with a piece of the fair-trade, organic chocolate, which contains at least 50 percent cocoa solids and no caffeine. The beans are fermented, not roasted, a process that keeps the antioxidants while eliminating the stimulants.

Chocolate is incorporated into everything from the salad dressing (the house salad has a raspberry dark chocolate vinaigrette, $3.95) to chili (a generous bowl with vegan or smoked turkey sausage is $9.95). There are non-chocolate items on the menu. The Babouti meatloaf ($7.95) with ground turkey and raisin and apricot chutney is surprisingly light and fruity.

Cafe Chocolate uses organic, fairly traded, and local products whenever possible. The coffee, tea, and hot chocolate are excellent and individually prepared. Bring home a box of locally made truffles filled with fruit essence or cinnamon (but no sugar or dairy). They act like vitamins for your soul.

Every visit to Lancaster County should include a meal at a smorgasbord, a large Amish buffet. There are numerous options on this front, but some of them are less local experiences than tourist factories churning out mass-produced food.

One restaurant that avoids this trap, especially at breakfast, is Miller’s (2811 Lincoln Highway East, Ronks; 717-687-8436; millerssmorgasbord.com) in Ronks, an 8-mile drive west of Lancaster. Some of the

produce, eggs, sausage, and bacon come from neighboring Amish farms. The shoofly pie, which is available at breakfast and every other meal of the day, is especially delicious. Thick with molasses and strongly spiced, it’s an unusually flavorful version of this ubiquitous Amish desert.

Another guilty pleasure at Miller’s is the iced raisin bread. The icing is the same kind you’ll find sandwiched in the middle of whoopee pies.

The breakfast buffet is $8.95 per person during the week and $10.95 on weekends. Check the restaurant’s website for coupons.

BreWerIesSmall breweries operated in Lancaster

County for centuries, but by the mid-20th century, all of them were defunct. Luckily, a growing interest in micro-brewed beer has brought many of them back to life including the Lancaster Brewing Company (302 North Plum St., Lancaster; 717-391-6258; lancasterbrewing.com). This microbrewery makes beer following a German law dictating that only malt, hops, yeast, and water can be used in the brewing process.

You’ll find up to 10 locally brewed varieties, including seasonal beer like the Winter Warmer. Food is also available. The hand-tossed pizzas ($9 to $10) and special-ties like bratwurst poached in pilsner ($9) are especially good. Many of the beers are available to take home in bottles or cans, or you can purchase a growler and fill it with beer from the tap for $12.

Stoudt’s Brewery (2800 North Reading

Rd., Adamstown; 717-484-4387; stoudtsbeers.com) is a family-run business where you can buy beer produced on the premises and cheese, bread, and other baked goods made on-site using local ingredients.

Tour the brewery, sample the numerous beers, and eat in the Black Angus Restaurant. The menu here is heavy on the beef, but you can find some standouts including jagerschnizel, pork culets covered in a local organic mushroom sauce and served over noodles ($17 to $20, depending on how much pork you want).

All of the vegetables are grown in the brewery garden or at nearby farms. You can also purchase bottles of Stoudt’s limited edition reserve beers in hand-corked bottles. Favorites include Old Abominable and Smooth Hoperator.

VIneYarDsJan and Kimberly Waltz’s house sits in the

middle of Waltz Vineyards (1599 Old Line Rd., Manheim; 717-664-9463; waltzvineyards.com) in Manheim, 30 minutes northwest of Lancaster. When you pull up the steep driveway through neat rows of grapevines, one of their dogs may run out to greet you, making you wonder if you’re in the right place. But once you get out of your car, walk in the door of the tasting room, and see the cozy and elegant bar, you know you’ve arrived.

The vineyard was once a tobacco farm run by Jan’s parents that has been transformed into 20 sustainable acres of grapes. The tasting, fermenting, and barrel rooms are

stylishly decorated with paintings done by local artists.

The vineyard is the only place, other than the John J. Jeffries restaurant, to sample and purchase the traditional French-style wines made by Jan. Tastings are complimentary. Or you can order wine by the glass or bottle, sit at one of the cafe tables, and admire a view of the grapes that went into the juicy rose or silky merlot. Glasses range from $7 to $8; bottles from $19 to $30.

Kitchen Kettle Village

Jams and more: Kitchen Kettle Village started in a two-car garage in 1954 and today consists of more than 40 shops in an outdoor outlet.

L a n C a s t e r C O u n t Y

Getthere

If you’re heading for Lancaster proper (and towns like Intercourse, Ronks, and Bird-in-Hand to the east), your best bet is to get on Route 30, which you can do by taking 76 West to 202 South. Going to Manheim or Lititz fi rst? Take

76 West to Route 222 West.

Be prepared to routinely encounter bug-gies, wagons, and other horse-drawn vehicles on the roads in and around Lancaster. This is especially true on

Sundays, when the Amish go to church.Remember that part of your locavore adventure might involve getting lost a

little. Wander in your car along country roads like Routes 340 and 896, admir-ing the tidy farms that line them. You’ll soon come across signs advertising

homemade root beer, pickles and jams, pies, breads, and of course, the most

seasonal of produce.

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