Jean Kays Pasties; a Must Stop in Marquette Michigan

Jean Kays Pasties, a Must Stop in Marquette Michigan.

I have been working in the UP, Upper Peninsula of Michigan for about 30 years off and on and had never stopped at Jean Kays until recently.

Though Marquette is one of my favorite destinations in the UP, I never had the desire to seek out a pasty shop until this trip.

Up until last fall the pasties that I have tried have been uneventful and not something worth going out of your way for.

But last fall some friends from Marquette brought along a bag full of these treats to a meeting that we were attending in Northern Wisconsin, and they were delightful.

So I knew that sometime before we finished Huron Mountain Forest Inventory Project that I had to stop and sample a few pasties, and our crew bought plenty of them.

It was a tough call to choose between the Steak, Potatoes, Rutabagas, and Carrots style or the Veggie Pasty with scrumptious Broccoli, Mushrooms and other tasty veggies.

Since we could not decide we tried both and took a few sacks of them along for later meals in the woods.

This was not too far off from what the original eaters of these Northern treats did with them. As they took sacks of them down into the mines or out into the logging camps to give them energy to get through a long hard day of serous work.

So next time you are in Marquette, don’t forget to grab some good hardy traditional food, and grab a bag for the road too.