Introducing 'Ham Radio: Cooking with Amy Thielen'

KAXE is proud to launch Ham Radio: Cooking with Amy Thielen, a new six-part, one-hour radio show and podcast.

Hosted by James Beard Award-winning chef and writer Amy Thielen with KAXE's Director of Content Heidi Holtan, the show explores how we actually live and cook in Northern Minnesota.

Liz Fish/Little Movie Company

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Ham Radio features a mix of culinary voices from Minnesota and all over the country: food writers, growers, obsessive home cooks, cookbook authors, chefs, our friends from the grocery store. They'll share what they’re making and why, and the stories that fuel their passion. Amy will also dig into family recipes and traditions as well as the beauty that is the church cookbook from the past.

“Ham Radio focuses on the ambitious, resourceful home cooking all around us, roping in inspiration from contributors from both near and far," Amy said. "Whether we’re talking about boiling down maple syrup, or gardening, or by-the-book versus off-script cooking, or making lutefisk from scratch, I want to talk about our food culture with the people who already understand it and love it — and live it.”

Ham Radio isn’t just a cooking or food show. Food is personal and defines our lives. In Northern Minnesota especially, food isn’t just what’s on the plate; it is how we show up for each other.

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Jen Kellen

You'll hear conversations about lutefisk and gardening and we'll even talk with Minnesota's own Jeremy Messersmith. Ham Radio will include an original, licensed song from the singer-songwriter, and we'll talk with him about his potluck performances and how Amy's cookbook Company: The Radically Casual Art of Cooking for Others was a touchstone for him and his brother.

We asked Jeremy to be part of Ham Radio and his answer came immediately. "I said yes, because Amy is a big part of the culture in Minnesota. And I'm a fan! "

Jeremy describes what he does as building community.

"For over a decade now, it's been through music and food," he said. "I've played maybe hundreds of potluck shows and people everywhere are SO PROUD of the food that they bring to these things. Like, they go all out.

"Amy helps people with their culinary narratives and vocabularies. So working with another artist in which there is considerable overlap was a no-brainer for me."

Each episode will end with a recipe from Amy, posted online so listeners can cook along at home and share their experiences.

Ham Radio: Cooking with Amy Thielen debuts at 6 p.m. Friday, May 23, on KAXE, with rebroadcasts 1 p.m. Saturdays and 10 a.m. Sundays. It is also available as a podcast through Apple and Spotify.

Ham Radio: Cooking with Amy Thielen is made possible by the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.

Listen above to Amy from a recent conversation talking about Ham Radio on the KAXE Morning Show above.

Our first Ham Radio will be about risky business. What's the riskiest food or recipe you have tried? Let us know!