Al Franken: My Favorite Minnesotan Foods

The Heavy Table caught Al Franken at the Red Stag LEED-CI Certification event and asked him about his favorite foods around the state.

Katie Cannon / Heavy Table
Katie Cannon / Heavy Table

“The sweet corn in August is just crazily good. It’s just crazily good, the sweet corn. I love Mahnomin, the real wild rice as an ingredient in anything. I love walleye. [On the campaign trail] there’s been some beans at some bean feeds that have been spectacular, there’s been some pork chops that were pretty amazing.

The walleye on a stick at the State Fair is much, much better than it has any right to be. You figure, how do they do it? They have this little fillet, well, not so little but a little fillet and they fry it but it’s not so deep fried… it’s done unbelievably beautifully. I try to get walleye whenever I can.

There’s a Mahnomin porridge at Hell’s Kitchen; it’s one of my favorite things. There’s a beef vegetable soup at Tobie’s [Restaurant & Bakery in Hinckley] that I sort of insist on when traveling to Duluth.”

3 Comments

  1. Joanna

    When I moved to MN 20 years ago, the sweet corn was a revelation. Corn from a roadside stand, corn you can grow yourself…maybe my favorite thing in the whole world.

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