Amish food fest

Byerik March 26, 2007January 29, 2011

Looks like it will take a few weeks to verify whether yesterday’s Holmes County Amish Country eat-a-thon broke any records.

I try to avoid buffets if I can. The willpower required to avoid eating some of everything seems to take away from my enjoyment of the food itself.

But wonder which of the happy eaters managed to taste the most dishes, and how many? Perhaps they’ll deserve a plaque as well.

It’s no secret that overeating and sedentary lifestyles are chief causes of obesity. Among the Amish it is a rarity, even though anyone who’s tried it can tell you typical Amish dishes definitely ain’t low fat.

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Amish Culture

Amish Questions Answered – Part 2

ByErik Wesner March 28, 2012March 28, 2012

31 Comments

Well overdue, here is our second batch of Amish questions-and-answers. I meant to get to more of these, faster, but as they say “circumstances intervened” 🙂 Thanks for your patience. SharonR: Since the Amish farmers and their neighbors mostly eat farm fresh products, are they generally healthier than the “Englishers”, or have they also fallen to eating “junk” like so many of us Englishers have,…

Amish Books and Media | Amish Culture

The Sugarcreek Budget

Byerik June 4, 2007January 9, 2012

37 Comments

The Sugarcreek, Ohio Budget newspaper is a vital print lifeline stretching across the diverse Anabaptist settlements of North and South America. Founded in 1890, this weekly paper out of Sugarcreek, Ohio, serves as an information exchange for families sometimes separated by great distances and formidable technological barriers. The Budget is among the favorites when it comes to Amish reading material. Budget ‘scribes’ regularly report on…

Amish Culture

Nebraska Amish buggy

Byerik November 7, 2008February 13, 2011

2 Comments

Nebraska Amish buggies are among the simplest. In the photo you can notice the lack of a back window, the open front, and roll-up canvas sides. The back canvas can also be opened and rolled up to let a nice breeze through. The hook which you can see jutting out on the right (just above the mountain line) holds a small lamp for night visibility.

Amish Controversies | Amish Culture

Cruising with the Youngie

Byerik September 8, 2008September 2, 2011

2 Comments

Once church lets out around noon, the Youngie hit the streets. Some do hang around for the post-service meal, but a number get going right off the bat. Between the hours of 1 to 3 especially, you notice a lot of open buggies, ones with ‘un-Amish’ decals and quite a few sporting excessive ‘reflectorization’. This shot is from a heavily-trafficked North-South route in Lancaster County,…

Amish Controversies

Amish, voting, and photo IDs

ByErik Wesner April 6, 2011

11 Comments

Will 2012 be the year of the disenfranchised Amish voter? Yesterday, Cleveland station WKYC ran a story about Amish potentially not voting due to a proposed Ohio law requiring photo IDs. I suspect the (already) growing hype over the upcoming presidential elections has something to do with this. Despite the tone of the accompanying video (see below), I tend to think it more wishful media…

Amish Beliefs

Why the Amish don’t vote; an Amish Obama supporter

Byerik November 4, 2008December 30, 2010

4 Comments

In (hopefully) the last politically-related posting I’ll be doing for awhile, I just wanted to draw attention to an article in a WVA paper concerning local Amish and the voting issue. The piece does a nice job of explaining some of the deterrments to voting the Amish encounter as a society that considers itself ‘in the world, but not of it’, including the issue of…