Food Studio

Some of what has inspired me most since I started Food Studio is travelling and hearing back stories about what following our journey has meant to people. There have been the most incredible stories that have moved me deeply. About Sienna and Aldo, who through our articles and projects in Japan learned about Bøgedal brewery in Denmark, went to apprentice with Giite and Casper, and later started Fortuna Chocolate in Mexico. I have met people at a coffee event in Melbourne who told me that everything they know about biodynamic farming they learned through us, and I have been invited on a week of nature guiding in Tasmania based on a small piece in Monocle’s guide to Oslo.

These experiences of connecting with like-minded people across the world are what have held me back from just switching over to Norwegian. I still feel the frustration when posts look visually interesting but I can’t grasp the essence because they are written in French or Japanese. But we now live in a time where language is soon no longer a barrier in the way it has been. The technological tools available now are remarkable compared to just a year ago, and I suspect that in another year this will no longer feel like the barrier it still does.

I have therefore made the decision to stop trying to maintain multiple accounts and keep one narrative for me as an entrepreneur and another for Food Studio as a business. I realise that the combination of being a mother and an entrepreneur is already more than enough. This past week so much chaos, crisis and tragedy has unfolded that trying harder, doing more, is simply not an option.

That means I am going to work towards solutions that make it possible to follow along without it being too difficult. There are now options for the website where you can handle bilingualism quite smoothly, and the translation is good enough, if not perfect. But I may do things a little differently from how it has been, and I hope that will be fine, because I believe the people who care about food, sustainability and community here in Oslo or Norway are not so different from those who care in Kyoto or Tasmania. In fact the experience is that we have a great deal in common and a lot to learn from each other.

In practical terms that means I will write to one newsletter list, post on one Instagram account, one LinkedIn, and Meta goes without saying that we primarily share events, split between me as a private person and Food Studio as a business.

We will still be doing many cross-disciplinary projects, there are already lots of wonderful people involved and exciting projects in the pipeline, so stay tuned. The difference is that where I used to outsource the writing to a writer, I will now be the one taking you along on the journey.

Hope you want to come along!

Warmly Cecilie

Photo: Bjørk Ellingsbø
Text: Cecilie Dawes