Food Studio

On the 20.07.12 Maaemo, Tim Wendelboe and Food Studio arranged a tribute to the forest and the joys it has to offer. You know, like the smell of the air right after a rainfall, the crackling of a bonfire, the taste of wild growing herbs and fresh picked berries. The 20 lucky guests, who had raced all over Oslo to get their tickets, were served a five-course dinner prepared in open air by the innovative chefs from Maaemo.

A wednesday in February 2011. Forty fantastic food enthusiasts gathered in a photo studio at Lilleborg. By the entrance wooly warm socks and Hokkaido soup awaits this evenings guests. Chairs lined up in front of the stage, chit chats by the soup, the chefs busy; preparing, tasting, adding, stirring. Inspiring lectures, listening, learning. Outdoors: Snow. The cold. Indoors: Warmth. Laughter, cooled cider straight from the pile of snow outside.

This is the story of a group of students from ESCP Business School in Berlin studying sustainability entrepreneurship and their one-week trip to the Norwegian countryside. After spending one year learning about the existing systems and the way industries are set up to provide us with everything we need to live more than comfortably, it was time for us to zoom out, (re)connect with nature and understand how nature works to understand what sustainability truly means and how we can create solutions to combat the climate crisis, ensure food security, clean drinking water and a liveable world for all––the basic human rights, right? 

In the autumn of 2018, our journey towards a more harmonious existence with nature began with the purchase of Vefallneset in Drangedal Telemark. Originally known as "Strømneset," this place, cleared in the 1770s, was initially a smallholding.

"Norway violates the human rights of indigenous people. I feel it deep down in my spine. In November I went to Fosen and photographed and filmed the facts. I stood close and witnessed what the landscape looked like. I was there for two days before I was unable to stay there any longer. It was too painful. The wind turbines on Fosen must be demolished, and the land returned to the Fosen Sami" - Jannik Abel.

This year has been all about finding new ways to share our knowledge. One of the projects we have been working on is the e-bok Gathering together with Nordic Roots. Nordic Roots is a deeper, slower «time pocket» for the sharing knowledge, wisdom, and creativity from people who easily see the many opportunities to live a life more aligned with themselves and nature, both in their business and in their private life.

At the moment I am sitting overlooking the fjord of and the mountains of Saltdal having a winter break in the north of Norway. There is a peaceful quietness after a storm yesterday. The sun is slowly waking up in the winterlandscape, breaking through in dots on the mountains around. One of the most valuable teachings of last year has the importance of this rest, this silence after a storm. How this is where we regenerate, where we charge, and get ready for the next round.