50 years of cheese curds and record breaking food sculptures, test your fair trivia
Jacob Rorem (center) is the program associate at the Minnesota Historical Society. History On-A-Schtick is a live quiz show at the State Fair.
Alanna Elder | MPR News
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Audio transcript
NINA MOINI: This is Minnesota Now. We're thrilled to be live here at the Minnesota State Fair with our amazing live audience. Give it up for yourselves.
[CHEERING]
Well, I'm already sweating. But we are going into some trivia now, which makes me a little nervous, so we're going to ask for some help for everybody. The State Fair, did you know, began more than 165 years ago. There's been a lot of interesting history here, of course.
We wanted to learn a little bit more about it with the Minnesota Historical Society. They're going to test your knowledge, my knowledge, when it comes especially to what we all love, food at the fair and in the state of Minnesota in general. So, everybody, please welcome Jacob, another Jacob, Jacob Rorem, the Program Associate at Minnesota Historical Society. Thank you for being here, Jacob.
JACOB ROREM: Oh, my pleasure. Absolutely.
[APPLAUSE]
NINA MOINI: Thank you for putting together these questions, too. Why did you want to focus on food?
JACOB ROREM: So food is a big thing for us at MNHS this year. We're doing a lot to lean in to the food history of Minnesota, the culinary history. We've got a summer program running right now called Recipe for Adventure.
NINA MOINI: Nice.
JACOB ROREM: It's where you can collect historic recipes at all of our different sites and create your own little Minnesota cookbook. We've also got an upcoming exhibit at the History Center, called Julia Child-- A Recipe for Life, opens September 27.
NINA MOINI: Nice.
JACOB ROREM: So it's a great opportunity to just dig into that part of our history.
NINA MOINI: Absolutely. Thank you for the work that you do. I invited Jacob Aloi, who I will refer to as Jacob Aloi now because you're both named Jacob.
JACOB ALOI: Wow.
JACOB ROREM: [INAUDIBLE] Jacob.
NINA MOINI: Because, again, I get so nervous with trivia. I don't know if anybody else is like that. I draw a blank. So Jacob's going to-- Jacob Aloi is going to help me out. So let's get started. Do you want to ask your first question--
JACOB ROREM: Sure, yeah.
NINA MOINI: --Jacob? [LAUGHS]
JACOB ROREM: So this year, 50 years ago is when cheese curds, deep-fried cheese curds, debuted at the State Fair.
NINA MOINI: Oh.
JACOB ALOI: Wow.
JACOB ROREM: So I've got a question about cheese for you.
NINA MOINI: OK.
JACOB ROREM: 90 years ago, about, Faribault became home to the first commercial producer in the United States of which colorful veined cheese?
NINA MOINI: Oh.
JACOB ALOI: Ooh.
NINA MOINI: Oh.
JACOB ALOI: I have no idea. This is fascinating.
NINA MOINI: I think I know.
JACOB ALOI: So a colored, veined cheese.
JACOB ROREM: Veined cheese, and it's known for its color.
NINA MOINI: Is it just blue cheese?
JACOB ROREM: It is blue cheese.
NINA MOINI: Oh!
JACOB ALOI: Whoa!
NINA MOINI: Yay.
[APPLAUSE]
JACOB ALOI: That's cool. I did not know that.
JACOB ROREM: Yeah, that's the birthplace of blue cheese production here in the United States, is Faribault.
JACOB ALOI: Wow.
NINA MOINI: Wonderful.
JACOB ALOI: Huh. Faribault.
NINA MOINI: All right, you've got a second question for us here.
JACOB ROREM: I do. So some of you out there might like deep-fried candy bars over cheese curds. So I've got a candy question for you.
JACOB ALOI: Love them.
JACOB ROREM: Which of these candy bars is not-- I repeat, not-- originally from Minnesota-- Payday, Milky Way, the Zero bar, or the Bun Bar?
JACOB ALOI: Ooh.
NINA MOINI: I didn't know about a couple of these.
JACOB ROREM: I've got a hint, if you need it, too.
JACOB ALOI: Yeah, I'd love a--
NINA MOINI: Please do.
JACOB ALOI: I'd love a hint.
NINA MOINI: Please do. [LAUGHS]
JACOB ROREM: So the one that's not originally from Minnesota is the one that's currently made in Minnesota.
JACOB ALOI: Oh, so there's one-- OK, so on your list there, it's the Milky Way, the Payday--
JACOB ROREM: The Payday.
JACOB ALOI: OK. And then it's the Zero bar.
JACOB ROREM: The Zero bar, with white chocolate.
JACOB ALOI: I love the Zero bar.
NINA MOINI: Somebody in the audience, help us. We need to phone a friend. We need to phone a friend.
JACOB ROREM: Yes, and the Bun Bar.
JACOB ALOI: Anybody in the audience have a thought about this.
NINA MOINI: Just shout it out. [LAUGHS]
JACOB ALOI: Just shout it out and you can help us out up here. Payday, Milky Way.
NINA MOINI: Oh, we're all stumped. Well, let's just say-- let's just say Zero, because that's how many points I'm going to earn during this game.
[LAUGHTER]
We say see Zero.
JACOB ALOI: We love the salt-- we love salt on nut rolls in this state.
JACOB ROREM: Yeah.
JACOB ALOI: So I'm going to say Payday because it feels like it's a trick question, and I'm thinking sideways about it.
NINA MOINI: Ooh. Sneaky.
JACOB ROREM: It's actually-- Payday was originally from Minnesota--
JACOB ALOI: OK.
JACOB ROREM: --the Hollywood Candy Company, out of Carver, Minnesota. But it's the Bun Bar, which is currently made by Pearson's--
NINA MOINI: OK.
JACOB ALOI: Sure. The-- yeah.
JACOB ROREM: --in St. Paul.
NINA MOINI: Well, they're from here, yeah.
JACOB ROREM: But it's not originally from here.
JACOB ALOI: OK.
JACOB ROREM: They got it from another company.
NINA MOINI: Oh.
JACOB ALOI: Interesting. OK, cool.
NINA MOINI: That's good to know. Shoutout to Pearson's.
JACOB ROREM: OK, so another-- we've got another favorite food for some people at the fair, and that's to do with one of the great things we produce here in Minnesota. So the Minnehaha, Folwell, and Wedge were the first three of these to come out of the University of Minnesota, which has released 29 total since 1878.
AUDIENCE: Apples.
AUDIENCE: Apples.
NINA MOINI: Apples.
JACOB ALOI: Yeah.
NINA MOINI: Everybody says.
JACOB ROREM: Apple varieties.
NINA MOINI: That's nice.
JACOB ROREM: That's correct.
NINA MOINI: Thank you all.
JACOB ALOI: Thank you, audience.
NINA MOINI: Yeah. Of course, the Honeycrisp. They're known for all these apples they've got.
JACOB ALOI: Oh my gosh. Love them.
JACOB ROREM: Yes, I've certainly never had a Minnehaha, Folwell, or Wedge. I don't know if anyone in the audience has.
JACOB ALOI: I've never heard of that kind of apple before.
JACOB ROREM: Yeah. So.
NINA MOINI: Well, they've got 29 of them.
[LAUGHS]
So question 4.
JACOB ROREM: Yeah. So this one is about our state symbols, our official state symbols.
JACOB ALOI: Sure.
JACOB ROREM: We have six edible symbols that are official state symbols.
JACOB ALOI: OK. Yeah.
JACOB ROREM: And I'd be interested to how many we can name. And for this question, we're not considering the loon edible.
JACOB ALOI: Edible. Ah, bummer.
NINA MOINI: Oh. [LAUGHS]
JACOB ALOI: No, I'm kidding. I'm kidding.
JACOB ROREM: We're talking about ones that people normally eat.
JACOB ALOI: OK. I think I do one of these.
JACOB ROREM: OK.
JACOB ALOI: We have the state muffin.
JACOB ROREM: Yes.
JACOB ALOI: Which is blueberry.
NINA MOINI: Oh.
JACOB ROREM: The blueberry muffin, correct.
JACOB ALOI: Blueberry muffin. That one, I know.
NINA MOINI: Well, there's five more of them, apparently.
JACOB ALOI: There's five more, though.
NINA MOINI: So we're going to need some help. Shout them out.
AUDIENCE: Walleye!
AUDIENCE: Milk!
NINA MOINI: Walleye.
JACOB ROREM: Walleye.
JACOB ALOI: Is milk our state drink?
NINA MOINI: Walleye. So that's two. Milk.
JACOB ROREM: Milk is our state beverage.
JACOB ALOI: OK, there you go. Thank you for bringing that up.
AUDIENCE: Wild rice.
NINA MOINI: OK. So we've got three.
JACOB ALOI: That's three.
JACOB ROREM: Wild rice, is what I heard.
NINA MOINI: That's four.
JACOB ROREM: That's our state grain.
JACOB ALOI: Wild rice. OK.
NINA MOINI: Excellent, audience.
JACOB ROREM: And almond.
NINA MOINI: Thank you. We need two more.
AUDIENCE: Morel mushrooms.
JACOB ROREM: The morel mushroom.
JACOB ALOI: Morel mushroom.
JACOB ROREM: Yes, that's our state mushroom.
NINA MOINI: You're so smart. Yay! I love our listeners.
JACOB ALOI: Oh my gosh, look at that.
JACOB ROREM: And we're missing one more.
[LAUGHS]
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]
JACOB ROREM: Oh.
JACOB ALOI: That's an edible?
JACOB ROREM: Not that edible, no.
NINA MOINI: Well, who's to say? [LAUGHS]
JACOB ROREM: But it's a-- think of the think of a previous question about--
JACOB ALOI: Is it the Honeycrisp apple?
JACOB ROREM: The Honeycrisp apple is our state fruit.
JACOB ALOI: Honeycrisp Apple, that makes sense.
NINA MOINI: Nicely done. All right. Thank you for your help, audience.
JACOB ALOI: Yes. I loved that.
NINA MOINI: All right, let's go to question number 5, already.
JACOB ROREM: Sure. One of the 19th century's most popular cookbooks came out of Minnesota. It was Estelle Woods Wilcox's Buckeye Cookery and Practical Housekeeping, and it sold over a million copies through its editions. But in 1950, another blockbuster cookbook came out of Minnesota--
NINA MOINI: Huh.
JACOB ROREM: --affectionately known as Big Red. What is it?
JACOB ALOI: I know this one, and I think some audience members know this one, too. It's Betty Crocker, yes?
JACOB ROREM: The Betty Crocker. Yes.
JACOB ALOI: Which, of course, there was the fabulous musical at the history theater last couple of years.
JACOB ROREM: True. Yeah.
JACOB ALOI: --I Am Betty, which is kind of about how the marketing tactic of Betty Crocker was created.
JACOB ROREM: Yup. Yup. Yeah.
NINA MOINI: He's an arts reporter, folks. He knows his stuff.
[LAUGHTER]
All right, we're already at question number 6.
JACOB ROREM: OK, this is going to be a little bit of a lightning round. We've got some record-setting food sculptures that exist here in Minnesota. I cannot verify that these are actually the world's biggest, but that's what they claim.
JACOB ALOI: They claim this, OK.
JACOB ROREM: Caveat. Big caveat there.
NINA MOINI: [LAUGHS] Sure.
JACOB ROREM: So in Olivia, Minnesota, in Renville County, you can find the world's largest one of these on top of a gazebo. Although, I'm sure Rochester would argue their famous water tower is a bigger version of this food. Does anyone have a guess as to what this food is?
AUDIENCE: Corn.
AUDIENCE: Corn.
NINA MOINI: Corn.
JACOB ALOI: Corn?
JACOB ROREM: Ear of corn is correct.
NINA MOINI: Audience is on it.
JACOB ALOI: Ear of corn.
NINA MOINI: Yes.
JACOB ALOI: Such a smart audience.
NINA MOINI: Yeah. Thankfully.
JACOB ALOI: Yeah, that's-- of course they are. They're MPR News listeners.
NINA MOINI: [LAUGHS] They're MPR people. Exactly. [LAUGHS]
JACOB ALOI: They're a very smart audience.
JACOB ROREM: Olivia is the Seed Corn Capital of Minnesota, hence their sculpture.
JACOB ALOI: The corn.
NINA MOINI: Sure.
JACOB ROREM: So in 2017, some recent history, Hopkins unveiled the world's largest one of these, which weighs 1,000 pounds--
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE].
JACOB ROREM: I've already heard it. A raspberry, yes, during their annual Raspberry Festival.
NINA MOINI: They're not even waiting for the question. I love it. [LAUGHS]
JACOB ROREM: OK, here's one. In the town of Halstad, in Northwest Minnesota, you can find the world's largest one of these standing 21 tall and weighing 10,000 pounds. It's a key part of the agricultural economy in Northwest Minnesota.
NINA MOINI: Who do we have from Northwest Minnesota? Help us out
JACOB ALOI: Anybody out there from Northwest Minnesota who can help us out on this one?
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
[LAUGHTER]
JACOB ROREM: I think we have a right answer. Sugar beet is correct.
JACOB ROREM: Sugar beets.
NINA MOINI: Sugar beet.
JACOB ALOI: Oh my gosh, yeah.
NINA MOINI: Yay!
JACOB ROREM: About 44% of sugar beets are grown in the Red River Valley.
JACOB ALOI: Wow.
NINA MOINI: Nice. We still have a few more questions, everybody, so we're just getting warmed up.
JACOB ROREM: So we're going to stick towards that part of the state. The world's largest one of these stands 12 feet tall outside the Dairy Queen in Moorhead where it was invented.
NINA MOINI: Any folks from Moorhead here today, or that area?
AUDIENCE: I am, yeah!
[LAUGHS]
Help us out.
JACOB ALOI: Help us out. Do you know? One more time. Read us the question one more time.
NINA MOINI: Yeah, read us the question one more time.
JACOB ROREM: 12-foot-tall one of these that sits outside the Dairy Queen in Moorhead where it was invented.
AUDIENCE: Ice cream cone.
JACOB ALOI: It's just a cone? It's an ice cream--
JACOB ROREM: Not a cone.
AUDIENCE: Dilly Bar.
JACOB ROREM: Dilly Bar.
NINA MOINI: A Dilly Bar.
JACOB ALOI: A Dilly Bar.
NINA MOINI: Thank you. A giant Dilly. Oh, I love Dilly Bars.
JACOB ROREM: OK. Sorry, I didn't hear you.
JACOB ALOI: I do love Dilly Bars.
NINA MOINI: Perfect.
JACOB ALOI: I do love Dilly Bars.
JACOB ROREM: And we'll do one that-- we'll do one more here about a record-setting one.
NINA MOINI: All right.
JACOB ROREM: But it's not an actual sculpture. It's a real one. In 1983, on July 1, 1983, the town of Starbuck set the record for the largest one of these kinds of Scandinavian delicacies, which weighed 70 pounds and was 9 feet, 8 inches in diameter.
AUDIENCE: Lefse.
JACOB ROREM: Lefse.
NINA MOINI: Lefse.
JACOB ALOI: Ah, who doesn't love lefse?
NINA MOINI: There it is.
JACOB ROREM: I wonder how they spread the butter on that one.
JACOB ALOI: Yeah, I was about to say.
NINA MOINI: Yeah, it takes the whole town.
JACOB ALOI: I love lefse with butter.
NINA MOINI: All right, so I think we've got time for one more, if you want to lay it on us.
JACOB ALOI: One final one.
JACOB ROREM: So we have an exhibit coming up at the Mill City Museum also, called Women of Taste, which is highlighting women in Minnesota's culinary history. One of the women featured is Bea Ojakangas, who's a legend here in Minnesota, written over 30 cookbooks, won a James Beard Award, hosted her own TV show, and even cooked with Julia Child.
NINA MOINI: Wow.
JACOB ROREM: Among her many accomplishments, she also invented which of these-- Pillsbury's refrigerated biscuits in a can, Pizza Rolls, Hot Pockets, or the microwave burrito?
JACOB ALOI: I feel like we know this, and I feel like some audience members mentioned it--
JACOB ROREM: I did hear the right answer.
JACOB ALOI: --because, is it the Pizza Roll?
JACOB ROREM: It's the Pizza Roll.
NINA MOINI: It's the Pizza Roll. What a contribution.
JACOB ALOI: There we go.
JACOB ROREM: Yeah, she worked as a test cook for Jeno of Jeno's Pizza Rolls.
JACOB ALOI: Oh.
NINA MOINI: Lovely.
JACOB ROREM: And she created the Pizza Roll, yeah.
NINA MOINI: Thank you very much, Jacob.
JACOB ROREM: Oh, my pleasure.
NINA MOINI: Everybody give Jacob a round of applause for those amazing questions--
JACOB ROREM: Hope they made everyone hungry.
JACOB ALOI: --and Jacob Aloi, [LAUGHS] our two Jacobs. Really appreciate your time today and all of your work. Thank you.
[CHEERING]
Well, I'm already sweating. But we are going into some trivia now, which makes me a little nervous, so we're going to ask for some help for everybody. The State Fair, did you know, began more than 165 years ago. There's been a lot of interesting history here, of course.
We wanted to learn a little bit more about it with the Minnesota Historical Society. They're going to test your knowledge, my knowledge, when it comes especially to what we all love, food at the fair and in the state of Minnesota in general. So, everybody, please welcome Jacob, another Jacob, Jacob Rorem, the Program Associate at Minnesota Historical Society. Thank you for being here, Jacob.
JACOB ROREM: Oh, my pleasure. Absolutely.
[APPLAUSE]
NINA MOINI: Thank you for putting together these questions, too. Why did you want to focus on food?
JACOB ROREM: So food is a big thing for us at MNHS this year. We're doing a lot to lean in to the food history of Minnesota, the culinary history. We've got a summer program running right now called Recipe for Adventure.
NINA MOINI: Nice.
JACOB ROREM: It's where you can collect historic recipes at all of our different sites and create your own little Minnesota cookbook. We've also got an upcoming exhibit at the History Center, called Julia Child-- A Recipe for Life, opens September 27.
NINA MOINI: Nice.
JACOB ROREM: So it's a great opportunity to just dig into that part of our history.
NINA MOINI: Absolutely. Thank you for the work that you do. I invited Jacob Aloi, who I will refer to as Jacob Aloi now because you're both named Jacob.
JACOB ALOI: Wow.
JACOB ROREM: [INAUDIBLE] Jacob.
NINA MOINI: Because, again, I get so nervous with trivia. I don't know if anybody else is like that. I draw a blank. So Jacob's going to-- Jacob Aloi is going to help me out. So let's get started. Do you want to ask your first question--
JACOB ROREM: Sure, yeah.
NINA MOINI: --Jacob? [LAUGHS]
JACOB ROREM: So this year, 50 years ago is when cheese curds, deep-fried cheese curds, debuted at the State Fair.
NINA MOINI: Oh.
JACOB ALOI: Wow.
JACOB ROREM: So I've got a question about cheese for you.
NINA MOINI: OK.
JACOB ROREM: 90 years ago, about, Faribault became home to the first commercial producer in the United States of which colorful veined cheese?
NINA MOINI: Oh.
JACOB ALOI: Ooh.
NINA MOINI: Oh.
JACOB ALOI: I have no idea. This is fascinating.
NINA MOINI: I think I know.
JACOB ALOI: So a colored, veined cheese.
JACOB ROREM: Veined cheese, and it's known for its color.
NINA MOINI: Is it just blue cheese?
JACOB ROREM: It is blue cheese.
NINA MOINI: Oh!
JACOB ALOI: Whoa!
NINA MOINI: Yay.
[APPLAUSE]
JACOB ALOI: That's cool. I did not know that.
JACOB ROREM: Yeah, that's the birthplace of blue cheese production here in the United States, is Faribault.
JACOB ALOI: Wow.
NINA MOINI: Wonderful.
JACOB ALOI: Huh. Faribault.
NINA MOINI: All right, you've got a second question for us here.
JACOB ROREM: I do. So some of you out there might like deep-fried candy bars over cheese curds. So I've got a candy question for you.
JACOB ALOI: Love them.
JACOB ROREM: Which of these candy bars is not-- I repeat, not-- originally from Minnesota-- Payday, Milky Way, the Zero bar, or the Bun Bar?
JACOB ALOI: Ooh.
NINA MOINI: I didn't know about a couple of these.
JACOB ROREM: I've got a hint, if you need it, too.
JACOB ALOI: Yeah, I'd love a--
NINA MOINI: Please do.
JACOB ALOI: I'd love a hint.
NINA MOINI: Please do. [LAUGHS]
JACOB ROREM: So the one that's not originally from Minnesota is the one that's currently made in Minnesota.
JACOB ALOI: Oh, so there's one-- OK, so on your list there, it's the Milky Way, the Payday--
JACOB ROREM: The Payday.
JACOB ALOI: OK. And then it's the Zero bar.
JACOB ROREM: The Zero bar, with white chocolate.
JACOB ALOI: I love the Zero bar.
NINA MOINI: Somebody in the audience, help us. We need to phone a friend. We need to phone a friend.
JACOB ROREM: Yes, and the Bun Bar.
JACOB ALOI: Anybody in the audience have a thought about this.
NINA MOINI: Just shout it out. [LAUGHS]
JACOB ALOI: Just shout it out and you can help us out up here. Payday, Milky Way.
NINA MOINI: Oh, we're all stumped. Well, let's just say-- let's just say Zero, because that's how many points I'm going to earn during this game.
[LAUGHTER]
We say see Zero.
JACOB ALOI: We love the salt-- we love salt on nut rolls in this state.
JACOB ROREM: Yeah.
JACOB ALOI: So I'm going to say Payday because it feels like it's a trick question, and I'm thinking sideways about it.
NINA MOINI: Ooh. Sneaky.
JACOB ROREM: It's actually-- Payday was originally from Minnesota--
JACOB ALOI: OK.
JACOB ROREM: --the Hollywood Candy Company, out of Carver, Minnesota. But it's the Bun Bar, which is currently made by Pearson's--
NINA MOINI: OK.
JACOB ALOI: Sure. The-- yeah.
JACOB ROREM: --in St. Paul.
NINA MOINI: Well, they're from here, yeah.
JACOB ROREM: But it's not originally from here.
JACOB ALOI: OK.
JACOB ROREM: They got it from another company.
NINA MOINI: Oh.
JACOB ALOI: Interesting. OK, cool.
NINA MOINI: That's good to know. Shoutout to Pearson's.
JACOB ROREM: OK, so another-- we've got another favorite food for some people at the fair, and that's to do with one of the great things we produce here in Minnesota. So the Minnehaha, Folwell, and Wedge were the first three of these to come out of the University of Minnesota, which has released 29 total since 1878.
AUDIENCE: Apples.
AUDIENCE: Apples.
NINA MOINI: Apples.
JACOB ALOI: Yeah.
NINA MOINI: Everybody says.
JACOB ROREM: Apple varieties.
NINA MOINI: That's nice.
JACOB ROREM: That's correct.
NINA MOINI: Thank you all.
JACOB ALOI: Thank you, audience.
NINA MOINI: Yeah. Of course, the Honeycrisp. They're known for all these apples they've got.
JACOB ALOI: Oh my gosh. Love them.
JACOB ROREM: Yes, I've certainly never had a Minnehaha, Folwell, or Wedge. I don't know if anyone in the audience has.
JACOB ALOI: I've never heard of that kind of apple before.
JACOB ROREM: Yeah. So.
NINA MOINI: Well, they've got 29 of them.
[LAUGHS]
So question 4.
JACOB ROREM: Yeah. So this one is about our state symbols, our official state symbols.
JACOB ALOI: Sure.
JACOB ROREM: We have six edible symbols that are official state symbols.
JACOB ALOI: OK. Yeah.
JACOB ROREM: And I'd be interested to how many we can name. And for this question, we're not considering the loon edible.
JACOB ALOI: Edible. Ah, bummer.
NINA MOINI: Oh. [LAUGHS]
JACOB ALOI: No, I'm kidding. I'm kidding.
JACOB ROREM: We're talking about ones that people normally eat.
JACOB ALOI: OK. I think I do one of these.
JACOB ROREM: OK.
JACOB ALOI: We have the state muffin.
JACOB ROREM: Yes.
JACOB ALOI: Which is blueberry.
NINA MOINI: Oh.
JACOB ROREM: The blueberry muffin, correct.
JACOB ALOI: Blueberry muffin. That one, I know.
NINA MOINI: Well, there's five more of them, apparently.
JACOB ALOI: There's five more, though.
NINA MOINI: So we're going to need some help. Shout them out.
AUDIENCE: Walleye!
AUDIENCE: Milk!
NINA MOINI: Walleye.
JACOB ROREM: Walleye.
JACOB ALOI: Is milk our state drink?
NINA MOINI: Walleye. So that's two. Milk.
JACOB ROREM: Milk is our state beverage.
JACOB ALOI: OK, there you go. Thank you for bringing that up.
AUDIENCE: Wild rice.
NINA MOINI: OK. So we've got three.
JACOB ALOI: That's three.
JACOB ROREM: Wild rice, is what I heard.
NINA MOINI: That's four.
JACOB ROREM: That's our state grain.
JACOB ALOI: Wild rice. OK.
NINA MOINI: Excellent, audience.
JACOB ROREM: And almond.
NINA MOINI: Thank you. We need two more.
AUDIENCE: Morel mushrooms.
JACOB ROREM: The morel mushroom.
JACOB ALOI: Morel mushroom.
JACOB ROREM: Yes, that's our state mushroom.
NINA MOINI: You're so smart. Yay! I love our listeners.
JACOB ALOI: Oh my gosh, look at that.
JACOB ROREM: And we're missing one more.
[LAUGHS]
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]
JACOB ROREM: Oh.
JACOB ALOI: That's an edible?
JACOB ROREM: Not that edible, no.
NINA MOINI: Well, who's to say? [LAUGHS]
JACOB ROREM: But it's a-- think of the think of a previous question about--
JACOB ALOI: Is it the Honeycrisp apple?
JACOB ROREM: The Honeycrisp apple is our state fruit.
JACOB ALOI: Honeycrisp Apple, that makes sense.
NINA MOINI: Nicely done. All right. Thank you for your help, audience.
JACOB ALOI: Yes. I loved that.
NINA MOINI: All right, let's go to question number 5, already.
JACOB ROREM: Sure. One of the 19th century's most popular cookbooks came out of Minnesota. It was Estelle Woods Wilcox's Buckeye Cookery and Practical Housekeeping, and it sold over a million copies through its editions. But in 1950, another blockbuster cookbook came out of Minnesota--
NINA MOINI: Huh.
JACOB ROREM: --affectionately known as Big Red. What is it?
JACOB ALOI: I know this one, and I think some audience members know this one, too. It's Betty Crocker, yes?
JACOB ROREM: The Betty Crocker. Yes.
JACOB ALOI: Which, of course, there was the fabulous musical at the history theater last couple of years.
JACOB ROREM: True. Yeah.
JACOB ALOI: --I Am Betty, which is kind of about how the marketing tactic of Betty Crocker was created.
JACOB ROREM: Yup. Yup. Yeah.
NINA MOINI: He's an arts reporter, folks. He knows his stuff.
[LAUGHTER]
All right, we're already at question number 6.
JACOB ROREM: OK, this is going to be a little bit of a lightning round. We've got some record-setting food sculptures that exist here in Minnesota. I cannot verify that these are actually the world's biggest, but that's what they claim.
JACOB ALOI: They claim this, OK.
JACOB ROREM: Caveat. Big caveat there.
NINA MOINI: [LAUGHS] Sure.
JACOB ROREM: So in Olivia, Minnesota, in Renville County, you can find the world's largest one of these on top of a gazebo. Although, I'm sure Rochester would argue their famous water tower is a bigger version of this food. Does anyone have a guess as to what this food is?
AUDIENCE: Corn.
AUDIENCE: Corn.
NINA MOINI: Corn.
JACOB ALOI: Corn?
JACOB ROREM: Ear of corn is correct.
NINA MOINI: Audience is on it.
JACOB ALOI: Ear of corn.
NINA MOINI: Yes.
JACOB ALOI: Such a smart audience.
NINA MOINI: Yeah. Thankfully.
JACOB ALOI: Yeah, that's-- of course they are. They're MPR News listeners.
NINA MOINI: [LAUGHS] They're MPR people. Exactly. [LAUGHS]
JACOB ALOI: They're a very smart audience.
JACOB ROREM: Olivia is the Seed Corn Capital of Minnesota, hence their sculpture.
JACOB ALOI: The corn.
NINA MOINI: Sure.
JACOB ROREM: So in 2017, some recent history, Hopkins unveiled the world's largest one of these, which weighs 1,000 pounds--
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE].
JACOB ROREM: I've already heard it. A raspberry, yes, during their annual Raspberry Festival.
NINA MOINI: They're not even waiting for the question. I love it. [LAUGHS]
JACOB ROREM: OK, here's one. In the town of Halstad, in Northwest Minnesota, you can find the world's largest one of these standing 21 tall and weighing 10,000 pounds. It's a key part of the agricultural economy in Northwest Minnesota.
NINA MOINI: Who do we have from Northwest Minnesota? Help us out
JACOB ALOI: Anybody out there from Northwest Minnesota who can help us out on this one?
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
[LAUGHTER]
JACOB ROREM: I think we have a right answer. Sugar beet is correct.
JACOB ROREM: Sugar beets.
NINA MOINI: Sugar beet.
JACOB ALOI: Oh my gosh, yeah.
NINA MOINI: Yay!
JACOB ROREM: About 44% of sugar beets are grown in the Red River Valley.
JACOB ALOI: Wow.
NINA MOINI: Nice. We still have a few more questions, everybody, so we're just getting warmed up.
JACOB ROREM: So we're going to stick towards that part of the state. The world's largest one of these stands 12 feet tall outside the Dairy Queen in Moorhead where it was invented.
NINA MOINI: Any folks from Moorhead here today, or that area?
AUDIENCE: I am, yeah!
[LAUGHS]
Help us out.
JACOB ALOI: Help us out. Do you know? One more time. Read us the question one more time.
NINA MOINI: Yeah, read us the question one more time.
JACOB ROREM: 12-foot-tall one of these that sits outside the Dairy Queen in Moorhead where it was invented.
AUDIENCE: Ice cream cone.
JACOB ALOI: It's just a cone? It's an ice cream--
JACOB ROREM: Not a cone.
AUDIENCE: Dilly Bar.
JACOB ROREM: Dilly Bar.
NINA MOINI: A Dilly Bar.
JACOB ALOI: A Dilly Bar.
NINA MOINI: Thank you. A giant Dilly. Oh, I love Dilly Bars.
JACOB ROREM: OK. Sorry, I didn't hear you.
JACOB ALOI: I do love Dilly Bars.
NINA MOINI: Perfect.
JACOB ALOI: I do love Dilly Bars.
JACOB ROREM: And we'll do one that-- we'll do one more here about a record-setting one.
NINA MOINI: All right.
JACOB ROREM: But it's not an actual sculpture. It's a real one. In 1983, on July 1, 1983, the town of Starbuck set the record for the largest one of these kinds of Scandinavian delicacies, which weighed 70 pounds and was 9 feet, 8 inches in diameter.
AUDIENCE: Lefse.
JACOB ROREM: Lefse.
NINA MOINI: Lefse.
JACOB ALOI: Ah, who doesn't love lefse?
NINA MOINI: There it is.
JACOB ROREM: I wonder how they spread the butter on that one.
JACOB ALOI: Yeah, I was about to say.
NINA MOINI: Yeah, it takes the whole town.
JACOB ALOI: I love lefse with butter.
NINA MOINI: All right, so I think we've got time for one more, if you want to lay it on us.
JACOB ALOI: One final one.
JACOB ROREM: So we have an exhibit coming up at the Mill City Museum also, called Women of Taste, which is highlighting women in Minnesota's culinary history. One of the women featured is Bea Ojakangas, who's a legend here in Minnesota, written over 30 cookbooks, won a James Beard Award, hosted her own TV show, and even cooked with Julia Child.
NINA MOINI: Wow.
JACOB ROREM: Among her many accomplishments, she also invented which of these-- Pillsbury's refrigerated biscuits in a can, Pizza Rolls, Hot Pockets, or the microwave burrito?
JACOB ALOI: I feel like we know this, and I feel like some audience members mentioned it--
JACOB ROREM: I did hear the right answer.
JACOB ALOI: --because, is it the Pizza Roll?
JACOB ROREM: It's the Pizza Roll.
NINA MOINI: It's the Pizza Roll. What a contribution.
JACOB ALOI: There we go.
JACOB ROREM: Yeah, she worked as a test cook for Jeno of Jeno's Pizza Rolls.
JACOB ALOI: Oh.
NINA MOINI: Lovely.
JACOB ROREM: And she created the Pizza Roll, yeah.
NINA MOINI: Thank you very much, Jacob.
JACOB ROREM: Oh, my pleasure.
NINA MOINI: Everybody give Jacob a round of applause for those amazing questions--
JACOB ROREM: Hope they made everyone hungry.
JACOB ALOI: --and Jacob Aloi, [LAUGHS] our two Jacobs. Really appreciate your time today and all of your work. Thank you.
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