‘Ham Radio‘ highlights the complexities and passions of home cooking in greater Minnesota

NINA MOINI: Well, there's a lot of media about food out there to consume, but not as much about the complexities and the passion that fuels home cooking in rural Minnesota. That's what James Beard award-winning chef Amy Thielen is taking on in her new project.

She's hosting a radio call-in show that takes us inside the kitchens of cooks all over the state. It airs on KAXE, based out of Grand Rapids. And she said her goal is to make it sound like a community cookbook translated into radio. The show is called Ham Radio, and Amy Thielen is here to talk about it with us. Thanks so much for being here, Amy.

AMY THIELEN: Oh, thanks for having me on.

NINA MOINI: What a lovely idea, super fun and creative. You've had all this success in your career. You've really introduced Midwestern cooking to a lot of people already through your work and your cookbooks. But tell me what inspired Ham Radio, because it seems like just on another level of creativity.

AMY THIELEN: Aw, thank you. Exactly. I think it was the pandemic, actually, you know? I live out in the woods, northern Minnesota, outside of Park Rapids. And I love writing. I love writing books. And I just put out-- Company was my latest, and that came out about a year ago. But it can be kind of an isolating process. And then add to that just the actual [? proximus ?] [LAUGHS] isolation of--

NINA MOINI: Totally.

AMY THIELEN: --living in the country. I think that I really just wanted to talk to people again. And I mean, we have visitors, don't get me wrong. And the place can be kind of a hive of activity. But just getting out and talking to people about food, I just really craved it again, you know?

And I feel like a lot of the research that I did for my very first book, The New Midwestern Table, it came about when I got out on the street, driving around, talking to people, or writing-- I wrote a newspaper column for the Park Rapids Enterprise. And people would-- in town, would just stop me and talk to me. And those kind of interactions are so amazing. They're just invaluable. And they're just fun, fun.

NINA MOINI: Yeah, and I don't think you're the only one craving that. I think a lot of people are craving that. And it's like community and just another-- like a third space, another space to talk to people and connect with people. Would you describe what rural cooking means to you? Maybe it can mean a lot of things, but would it be different than what you might see in the Twin Cities?

AMY THIELEN: I think so. I think it is. I think because we have-- in some ways, we don't have access to certain things, let's say, like-- I don't know-- caper berries or veal chops. Certain things can be kind of hard to find, although that's changing. Our grocery stores are pretty good here.

But we have access to fresh potatoes or chokecherries because somebody has them, or somebody has sour cherries in their yard. Or there are these surpluses, I think, that you naturally find around here certain times of year. Everybody's looking to give away cucumbers. It's not just zucchini. So [LAUGHS] I think that there's something where we all cook the same thing at the same time. Yeah.

NINA MOINI: No, it makes sense. I mean, that's-- since the beginning of the time, it's like, what's around me that I can use to sustain myself? Who do you hope, though, hears this radio show? Who is it for? Who do you hope could learn something from it they didn't already know?

AMY THIELEN: Well, every week, I learn something I didn't know, just through the conversations. So the conversations are-- I really-- my producer, Heidi Holtan, and I-- she's from KAXE, and we broadcast actually from KBXE out of Bemidji--

NINA MOINI: Nice.

AMY THIELEN: --which is really like a second town to me. It's about an hour away. I love the people at the station. They're so great. But creatively, I wanted to have guests that were from here or food professionals, people in the industry that I know who are from far outside of here, LA. Last week, we had a chef friend who's a cookbook author from New York and then a food stylist from LA who worked on my first book with me as an intern.

But I've had-- interviewed Wally Everson from Hixton, Wisconsin. He was my-- really, the first interview we did. He's a guy who taught me how to make lutefisk from scratch--

NINA MOINI: Yeah, tell me about that.

AMY THIELEN: --the whole 14-day process.

NINA MOINI: Yeah, because I think that's what people think about, too, when they think about, I think, Minnesotan foods. So you made that from scratch together.

AMY THIELEN: OK, so it doesn't get more Minnesotan than that, really. It was a project I did this winter, just for fun, you know? It's a discussion with my friend Bruce Engebretson, who was on the second show also. He and I were into lye, cooking with lye, or an extreme base for making [AUDIO OUT] for pretzels, or he makes hominy.

And so we were talking about this food-grade lye, and then led to lutefisk. And Wally, I found him through Olson Fish Company. They gave me his number. And he's-- he's a lovely person. And we talk a lot. Now I talk to him on the phone.

NINA MOINI: Aw.

AMY THIELEN: I owe him a call.

NINA MOINI: I love that.

AMY THIELEN: He taught me so much about lye. And then I had another friend on. So then that whole show just developed into all of these kind of crazy things you do with this pH-- baking soda on steroids kinds of ingredients.

NINA MOINI: [LAUGHS] Yeah, I love that, because you're learning-- every person that you newly meet is an opportunity to learn. And I think that that's why it's so neat that it's a call-in show as well. And so I understand another aspect is the community cook. So listeners will work on the same recipe and then talk about it on the air. What kinds of recipes have you been cooking with community? And how has that been?

AMY THIELEN: Oh, it's been great. People were making-- last week, we were getting texts and emails as the show was airing about the week before's community recipe, which was my friend's-- Erin Haefele, she's a chef in Walker-- her onion pie, which is lovely. And people are posting pictures of it.

And I mean, it's just so much fun. Like I was saying, the synchronous, seasonal cooking-- it's not like we have to all make exactly the same thing, but just anybody's variation. A lot of times, people, they want to put their own twist on it. And--

NINA MOINI: Yeah, what's that like?

AMY THIELEN: --what I know is that--

NINA MOINI: I mean, is there judgment?

AMY THIELEN: Well, I just know that--

NINA MOINI: Or can people do--

AMY THIELEN: No.

NINA MOINI: --what they want?

AMY THIELEN: Oh, Nina, people can do what they want. This is a nonjudgmental--

NINA MOINI: This is a creative space, but are people a little bit maybe afraid to reveal how they took their own liberties, or are they really proud?

AMY THIELEN: I have found that people are-- they are very proud. And people are really good cooks, you know?

NINA MOINI: Yeah.

AMY THIELEN: There are a lot of really great cooks, especially-- I mean, everywhere, but out in the country? People cook breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and they get very good at it. So--

NINA MOINI: Yeah. What do you think--

AMY THIELEN: --it's really fun to share that.

NINA MOINI: Yeah, what do you think that rural Midwestern cooks do best?

AMY THIELEN: Oh, gosh, that's a hard question. I mean, so many things. Fresh fish is something that we up here know how to do. And people know how to filet it. They know what to do with it. I've had a lot of questions from the call-in that made me think I should have really consulted the Minnesota DNR before I started doing this show because they're asking me things I don't know, like, can we eat muskie? And I'm like, oh, what is the slot limit? So--

NINA MOINI: Yeah, yeah. Well, I love that. Yeah, no, fish is definitely the way to go. I think that I can tell that you're just so excited and inspired by the project, which is so fun. And you're about to celebrate the finale of the first season of Ham Radio.

AMY THIELEN: Yes.

NINA MOINI: What has been just some of the most inspiring, just, parts of this project for you? Has it made you feel renewed in your passion? Just, what are you really taking away from this, as you hopefully continue on into further seasons?

AMY THIELEN: Yeah, we hope to do more. I think we will. I just-- I mean, I love working with my co-host, Heidi Holtan. That relationship has been so good and easy--

NINA MOINI: Good.

AMY THIELEN: --and fun and rewarding. And just, broadcasting from where I'm from, it's important to me. And it's not just-- I don't know. I can't really explain, but it's kind of-- I guess, you'd say it centers us, or this is our primary audience. And it does go to podcasts.

And I know that people are listening who are not from northern Minnesota or Minnesota at all. But it really is from here. We made it here. We're making it here. We're talking to people from here and just sharing stuff and having really a good time, honestly.

NINA MOINI: Yeah, I'm so happy for you, Amy.

AMY THIELEN: We're having a good time.

NINA MOINI: Congratulations--

AMY THIELEN: Thank you.

NINA MOINI: --on your first season. Looking forward to the second one. Thank you so much.

AMY THIELEN: Well, it's so fun to talk on the radio about radio with you.

NINA MOINI: Aw, thank you.

AMY THIELEN: Yeah. Thank you so much.

NINA MOINI: Thank you. Take care.

AMY THIELEN: I love your show.

NINA MOINI: Thank you.

AMY THIELEN: Yeah, you too.

NINA MOINI: Bye. That was Amy Thielen, the host of the KAXE show called Ham Radio. You can find a link to all of the episodes of the show at mprnews.org.