Bobak Sausage Company, Chicago

For more than 40 years, Chicago-based Bobak Sausage Company has been creating Old-World sausages and gourmet deli meats. Though its most famous product is, perhaps, a classic polish sausage, the company's sausage scientists–also known as Sausageologists–scan the world's culinary traditions to produce hearty bratwursts, spicy chorizo, and fresh lithuanian sausage—all free of gluten, MSG, and trans fats. In addition to serving them from the 100-foot deli counter of the Bobak retail store and at gourmand-baiting events such as Taste of Chicago, the company ships its meats directly to homes, where they sizzle and plump as they’re pan-fried, grilled, or skewered on the fangs of a pet dragon. Bobak complements its stable of specialty meats with a collection of jarred pickles, kraut, and condiments from abroad.