WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE?
What's Your Favourite...?
Baker, Food Network star and CAA Member Anna Olson on travel, local eats and the pleasures of spring.
By Nicole Keen
IF YOU'RE A SEASONED home baker, chances are you’re already a fan of Anna Olson. The Welland-based, award-winning cookbook author, recipe developer, Food Network regular, culinary tour leader and creator of the YouTube channel Oh Yum — with 1.5 million subscribers and counting — has devoted her career to bringing deliciousness to the masses.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF ANNA OLSON
The award-winning Two Sisters Vineyards, in Niagara-on-the-Lake. | PHOTO: COURTESY OF TWO SISTERS VINEYARDS
When you’re not working, what do you like to do? Going to the local farmers’ market and farm gate stands is one of my favourite weekend things to do. I’m not a gardener, but I enjoy going to the local garden centres that have expanded into seasonal décor. I love embracing the seasons.
What flavours do you associate with spring? We get really excited about those first harvests and any sense of colour after living under a grey sky and bare trees for so long. The first ingredient we can [bake] with is rhubarb, which is beautifully pink. I’ve got a recipe in my latest cookbook [Baking Wisdom] for a rhubarb-rye bread.
What’s one of your favourite things about baking? It’s the act of baking even more than the end result. The gratification from sharing what you bake — you never bake for one. But also, the gratification of setting aside time in the kitchen that’s actually your time.
Do you have a favourite local restaurant? My husband and I are on the road so much that when we’re home, we’re nesting. [But] if we’re going to give a shout-out, de la terre bakery in St. Catharines does incredible breads. When we’re going out for dinner or recommending where someone should go, Kitchen 76 at Two Sisters winery in Niagara-on-the-Lake is stunning. But we love going out to eat when we travel, so we do that.
Speaking of travelling, is there anywhere you’d love to do a culinary tour that you haven’t yet? Japan is on the list. I’d love to do a culinary tour in Poland. I’d like to do a culinary tour through Scandi countries — Denmark, Sweden. I’d love to explore the cuisines of India. And the foods of Malaysia we don’t hear much about, but Malaysian food is so complex. You’ve got South Asian cuisine and Chinese cuisine, all in this one country. CAA
“We get really excited about those first harvests and any sense of colour after living under a grey sky and bare trees for so long.”
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Recipes of Olson’s rhubarb rye bread and pink lemonade Eton mess are featured in her book, Baking Wisdom. | PHOTOS: COURTESY OF ANNA OLSON
IF YOU'RE A SEASONED home baker, chances are you’re already a fan of Anna Olson. The Welland-based, award-winning cookbook author, recipe developer, Food Network regular, culinary tour leader and creator of the YouTube channel Oh Yum — with 1.5 million subscribers and counting — has devoted her career to bringing deliciousness to the masses.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF ANNA OLSON
