Midwestern cow college

I'm not a foodie at all, so I was unfamiliar with Anthony Bourdain until I saw an episode of Top Chef (season 2, the one where he mocked Mike's "Flintstonian execution" of a dish). Last week I'd just checked out No Reservations, and was planning to read it that night, when I saw a paperback of the revised edition of Kitchen Confidential for $1.00 in a book sale. So I bought it, read it, liked it, and started The Nasty Bits, a collection of his essays and articles.
In one of them, he refers to "Midwestern cow colleges", which is second only to "Flintsonian execution" in my list of favorite Bourdain phrases. See, I went to a Midwestern cow college, though usually we called it a "land-grant university". Same thing, though.