Scandinavian and Finnish American Food: Settling in America

The more to the north the emigrants had originally come from, the more to the north they tended to settle in America. Icelanders settled in Canada, with a few in northern Minnesota. Finns mostly settled in the north and became small farmers, loggers, and miners in Michigan, Minnesota, and Ontario. They retained their heritage, including food traditions and language, longer than did most other Scandinavians.

Swedish settlers were numerous in Minnesota, Illinois, New York, Massachusetts, Washington, and the Canadian prairies. Norwegians settled the prairies to the west and the south and are known for growing high-quality wheat, potatoes, and other grains in the rich soils of the Red River Valley of Minnesota and the Dakotas. This became the foundation of the milling industry that grew in Minneapolis and Saint Paul. At the same time, the Danes were spread in small groups over larger areas in Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, and California. Danes were dairy farmers and important in the dairy industry in Wisconsin, southern Minnesota, and Iowa.