WINDOW ROCK — As Char Kruger slowly adds cornmeal to the blue-corn mush on the stove, stirring it clockwise, people begin asking questions. Should they roast cornmeal before making the blue-corn mush?

Just try telling the radicchio crowd that polenta is nothing more than expensive cornmeal mush. They'd probably pelt you with pink peppercorns. But it's essentially true. The homemade cornmeal mush ...