Bea Ojakangas, From Finnish Food To Pizza Rolls

The Sporkful

As the Minnesota State Fair kicks into high gear, we’re talking with one of the state’s most iconic food personalities. Beatrice Ojakangas, who turned 90 this year, has Minnesota roots going back to the 1800s. She grew up milking cows and churning butter on a family farm, before her first blue ribbons at the State Fair launched her on a path to culinary innovation. She wrote the first Finnish cookbook published in the U.S. and invented one of the most iconic snack foods in the American frozen food canon. Bea tells Dan about what it was like trying to become a writer as a woman in 1950s Minnesota, the huge risk she took when she entered a nationwide baking competition, and how a call from Julia Child changed her life.

Check out Bea’s recipe for Chunk o’ Cheese Bread at sporkful.com.

The Sporkful production team includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O’Hara, Nora Ritchie, and Jared O'Connell. Publishing by Shantel Holder and transcription by Emily Nguyen.

Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.

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