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From Food Network to Our Farms

Lena Katz | December 18, 2017

Food

Amy Thielen & Hormel Foods champion American farm traditions

The biggest flavors come from the smallest farms and tiniest towns. That’s the word from one of Minnesota’s homegrown chefs — cookbook author, Food Network personality and new Hormel Foods brand ambassador Amy Thielen. A longtime champion of Midwestern traditional food and lifestyle, Amy grew up in small town Minnesota, just a couple hours from the Hormel Foods headquarters. She was born into a “bacon-making family” of German ancestry, and now she’s become an honorary member of the Hormel Foods family. We’re thrilled to have her.

While getting to know Amy, whether by talking to her or reading her work (especially her new memoir “Give a Girl a Knife”), you’re taken into a world where food fads and dietary restrictions do not hold sway. From childhood, she’s eaten as her grandparents ate — following her grandparents’ recipes, in fact. Classic culinary training followed by a 10-year stint in New York’s finest restaurants may have elevated her technique, but it didn’t change the fundamentals.

The simple ingredients and family recipes steeped in memories — the open-hearted American rural customs of abundance and hospitality — these are the essential elements of Amy’s cooking, and of her life. Because, to paraphrase her, American farm food is “a lifestyle, a tradition.” When she has questions about the world, she finds her answer in honest flavors from the farm.

So you can get to know her, here are a few of our favorite Amy Thielen quotes We look forward to seeing them in action through various exciting partnerships over the upcoming months.

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