The Midwest contains multitudes. We have some of the coldest weather out there, but some of the happiest people. We have some of the worst sports teams in history and some of the best (I’m not saying which is which for fear of retaliation). We have some of the grossest mayonnaise-based foods and some of the most inspired kitchen creations known to man. 

We Midwesterners can’t be pinned down. It’s not that we’re mysterious, we’re too friendly to be truly elusive, it’s that there’s a large part of us that enjoys suffering. We believe, at the core of our beings, that we need to endure those winters in order to earn the wonderful summers. We need to plow past those mountains of mayo before we deserve the Culvers. Us Cubs fans needed to last through a 107-year drought before we could truly enjoy the sweet satisfaction of winning the World Series in 2016. It makes us who we are as people.