The Swiss Pantry

In Belvidere (home to wonderful artists Susan and Tom Church), The Swiss Pantry, a Mennonite institution that appears on the Tennessee Backroads site), offers bulk foods, fresh bakery bread, wonderful pies (fried and otherwise), and other delicacies that tempt folks from the wider neighborhood.


I have sampled candied ginger (which adds sophisticated flavor to my scones), pumpkin butter, Jerusalem artichoke pickle (not quite as good as my deceased Aunt Bertha's), whoopie pies, fried coconut pies, wild rice and multi-bean soup, a luncheon sub, and other products, many from Amish companies. I have also attended one of the special events -- a barbecue complete with free donuts for dessert.

Even though the Swiss Pantry is a 40-mile roundtrip drive from Sewanee (and sometimes, as happened today, does not have what I want), I enjoy the journey through rolling countryside dotted with nurseries.