Healthy ingredients, meals and cooking take the spotlight in this week's Northern Express, sister publication of The Ticker. Writer Patrick Sullivan goes behind the scenes to look at how and why Michigan's farm-to-table, local food movement has exploded in recent years, considering factors like public dissatisfaction with processed foods, increasing local options, and economic benefits.

Beyond the fact that fresh food tastes better, people also feel good about buying local, according to Oleson's Food Stores Vice President D.J. Oleson. "I think it's just helping your neighbor and keeping the money in the local economy, that's part of it," he says. Northern Michigan's favorable growing conditions for a wide variety of crops, access to new local ingredients - such as hops and milled wheat - and the proliferation of farmers markets and locally focused restaurants are also growing the movement. Sullivan also explores some of the challenges involved with local food, including the need to teach more residents how to cook from scratch and making local ingredients available on a mass scale so they can be used in commercial-sized operations. Read more in "Local Foods: An Industry Made From Scratch" in this week's Northern Express.

This week's issue also includes a profile of Press On Juice owner Kris Rockwood - who left the high-powered Chicago business world and started her own Traverse City juicing company - as well as a Q&A with four area dieticians, who share advice on making practical, healthier choices in your day-to-day life. The issue also includes a feature on three companies who are offering a "new twist on home-cooked meals" through their healthy meal delivery companies, a handy guide to culinary classes across northern Michigan, an inside look at regional pasty shops - and much more! Check out the Northern Express online, or pick up a free copy at one of more than 600 distribution spots across 13 counties. And, stay connected throughout the week on Facebook.