In the kitchen with the Yooper Goddess

NATIONAL MINE — Two Marquette County women are using technology to spread the love of cooking across the U.P. and beyond.

“Every minute I think about writing a cookbook or doing a recipe, or you know, all that, and I was thinking ‘Oh my God, I could do videos and teach people to cook! Just what I’ve always wanted to do!'”, Lori Kulju said.

Kulju, better known as the Yooper Goddess, started living her dream when her sister–in–law, Vikki Kulju, suggested she take her culinary expertise to the Internet.

“She’s always been talking about having a cooking show and how great that would be, and it just dawned on me one day with technology being what it is, we could just have our own, you know, YouTube cooking show, and I’d film it, and we’d put it on and see what happens,” Vikki said.

The Yooper Goddess videos feature Lori detailing recipes, giving gardening tips and more. Besides being informative, the videos contain comedy and several instances of Lori’s unique catchphrase: “Doubt it!”

“When I would say it all the time, I told Vik, ‘you know, it’s going to be in a positive way’. Like, ‘if you can’t cook this, well, doubt it; I think you can,’ and I’m saying it with a smile because I’ve learned in the last few years that you have to keep a smile on your face,” Lori added. “It really changes your entire being to have a smile on your face.”

The pair has only been doing the show and website for around a month. They’ve already received a positive response and over 1,000 views, and they just released a venison e–cookbook in time for deer season. The women strive to make the online recipes easy to follow.

“We put the video right next to the recipe, so you can read the recipe and watch the video at the same time, which, for us less talented chefs, it really makes it easy,” Vikki said.

The results are certainly tasty. Head to www.yoopergoddess.com to find out more.