Alaska Airlines has teamed up with Hawaiian Airlines to create new nonstop international flights.

Go to Alaskaair.com or Hawaiian Airlines.com and I'll tell you more details later in the show.

I'm Rachel Bell and this is your last meal.

The show where celebrities share stories about the foods they love most,

and we dig into the history, culture, or science of those meals with experts from around the world.

Today on the program, New York Times best-selling author Jay Ryan Straddle.

Jay Ryan has written three novels, all set in Minnesota, Kitchens of the Great Midwest,

the Lager Queen of Minnesota, and Saturday night at the Lakeside Supper Club.

I have read and enjoyed all three books over the last few months.

Now, I have never been to Minnesota, but when I think of Minnesota food, I think of hot dish,

cream of mushroom soup, tater tots, casserole dishes covered in foil.

But there is another Midwestern culinary tradition that is less well known to outsiders, the supper club.

You get fried fish on Fridays, prime rib on Saturdays, a swarm of alcohol, brandy old

fashions, grasshoppers and pink squirrels for dessert.

If you're at a real traditional supper club, an old school one, you'll get a lot of free

food before you even order.

I love free food so much, I am prepared to pay for a flight to Minnesota

and a hotel room in order to get it.

I chat with the owners of two multi-generational supper clubs

to find out what sets them apart from regular restaurants.

That's coming up later in the show,

but first, my conversation with J. Ryan Straddle.

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