The scene at Imagine Nation Brewing. Imagine Nation Brewing
An Indian restaurant cooking local ingredients into curries, an iconic gyro shop serving loaded fries, the best banh mi and Mexican street food at Clark Fork Market, and more of Missoula’s best meals
Known alternatively as the Garden City and Zootown, Missoula, Montana, prides itself on its abundant farm-fresh ingredients and tight-knit arts, music, and food communities. As you wander around town, you’ll see collaborations between many local businesses: a coffee shop using oat milk from a local creamery, an independent movie theater offering kombucha from a local fermenter, and boba shops and sandwich slingers that launched as stalls at the Clark Fork farmers market. Missoula is also a great place to experience a broad range of flavors, especially for college students at the University of Montana, who have access to late-night college eats, historic food businesses, a craft beer-fueled community space, cuisines shared by the city’s growing immigrant and refugee populations, eateries to power study sessions, and anything in between.
Lotus Porte-Moyel is a journalism and musical theater student at the University of Montana. She grew up cooking with her grandma and mom, and watching Food Network over TV dinners. They have been fascinated by food and travel storytelling for years and hopes to continue working in the craft.