Soile Anderson and Eleanor Ostman
Lecturer of the Year 2019-22
Finnish Cuisine: Meet The Finn Cooks!
Noted Twin Cities food experts Soile Anderson and Eleanor Ostman co-presented a tasty program about Finnish foodways as Lecturer of the Year from July 1, 2019 through December 2022.
The Minnesotans co-authored the book Celebrations to Remember: Exceptional Party Decor and Fabulous Food.
Soile (below in red apron) is a native of Finland who relocated to Minnesota and the St. Paul area, where she opened The Deco Restaurant, Taste of Scandinavia bakeries and the Finnish Bistro.
She has been featured in Martha Stewart Living magazine, and in 2017 she was inducted into the Scandinavian American Hall of Fame.
Eleanor (in blue apron) is of Finnish descent, and was born and raised in Hibbing, Minnesota. She studied journalism at Macalester College and was food writer for the St. Paul Pioneer Press. She drew on decades of her columns and published two cookbooks, Always on Sunday and Always on Sunday Revisited.
She and Soile met in the 1980s and developed a lifelong friendship and partnership in presenting food demonstrations and talks. They are able to tailor their presentation to the interest and size of the audience and capabilities of the venue.
The Finn Cooks were initially selected as LOY in 2019. Their tour was interrupted by COVID-19 and they continued to present as LOY in person and via YouTube cooking demonstrations through 2022.