Rural Convenience Store Is a Surprising International Food Stop

Transcript

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HOST: You're listening to North Star Stories: Voices from Where We Live, a daily newscast about what it means to live in Minnesota.

ANCHOR: Northern Minnesota is home to a culinary gem. Then, travelers with disabilities are getting new resources at Minnesota's main airport. And, a new bridge opens along Minnesota's North Shore.

I'm Chantel SinGs.

The Minneapolis–St. Paul International Airport, also known as MSP, is launching a new program to help travelers with hidden disabilities get the support they need. MSP has partnered with the European-based company Hidden Disabilities Sunflower organization to offer sunflower-printed lanyards. The lanyards allow travelers to discreetly signal to airport staff that they may need additional assistance or patience. Anyone with a hidden disability can request a lanyard.

In today's main story, there's a food desert of sorts in Northern Minnesota, especially when it comes to authentic Asian cuisine. But as frankie felegy explains, there's a hidden gem, you just have to know where to look.

Nat Sound: It smells really good.

frankie felegy: Here's an unassuming spot for a delicious hot meal from across the globe, a convenience store not for pizza slices and hot dogs, but real Filipino food. Meet Nanay's Kitchen in Duluth. For nearly 10 years now, Beth Canete has been dishing up authentic steam buns and noodles to swaths of regular customers.

Beth Canete: I started with the basic stuff, like, you know, like the egg rolls, and then the empanadas and lumpia empanadas, and then the chupa, oh, the steam buns.

frankie felegy: These are a rarity around here. Darby Dwyer, whose mom is Filipino, says there are very few places to get international food, let alone good international food, around Duluth. He's a regular customer.

Darby Dwyer: I feel like we lost a lot of international cuisine that we had up here, but this is one of the spots where you can go and get some really good Filipino cuisine.

frankie felegy: Beth's counter sits modestly inside the Gnesen Convenience Store. It's off a rural road, nestled between a small creek and swaths of trees. Minnesotans across the state regularly make the trek, just for a plate full.

Beth Canete: I have my customers today from International Falls. They drive all the way here just for this. I have customers like the people from Ely, they make it as their destination.

frankie felegy: It's easy to see why Beth's mouth-watering cast of authentic food isn't from a recipe book or an online blog. It comes from a secret ingredient.

Beth Canete: Here, love, the love of cooking. That's the secret. That's the ingredients that nobody can take it away from me.

frankie felegy: The Nanay in Nanay's Kitchen means mom in Filipino. After all, Beth learned to cook by eating what her mother made and by feeding her own children. When she's not busy cooking in the back kitchen, it seems like she's thinking about everyone else's moms.

Nat Sound: Hey, thank you. Say hi to your mom, I will. Thank you.

frankie felegy: If you turn around after ordering your lunch, you'll see shelves of Filipino, Japanese, Korean and Thai ingredients, something that customers like Darby Dwyer appreciate.

Darby Dwyer: Pancit. The noodles are available up here. And some of the drinks, coconut water, mango nectar, and it's honestly a hidden gem, where you can find a lot of obscure items in the store that are from international markets.

frankie felegy: For over 30 years, Beth and her husband Greeny have run the store and kept its international shelves growing. Starting up again in the spring, customers can find to-go orders on Fridays and Saturdays. In the winter, Canete offers advance-notice orders for larger parties.

Beth Canete: Thank you. Good to see you guys.

frankie felegy: Anyone who wants to cook up their own authentic Asian cuisine this winter can purchase the ingredients in, of all places, a convenience store in northern Minnesota. For North Star Stories, I'm frankie felegy.

ANCHOR: You are listening to North Star Stories.

A major upgrade is now complete at one of Minnesota's most popular North Shore destinations. The Department of Natural Resources, or DNR, has reopened the High Falls Bridge at Tettegouche State Park, on Lake Superior, after a full season of construction. The rebuild includes major improvements that the DNR says will help withstand future flooding. The new bridge is now open to visitors.

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HOST: North Star Stories is produced by AMPERS, diverse radio for Minnesota's communities, with support from the McKnight Foundation and the State of Minnesota. Online at ampers dot org.