Up Norway — At Losæter

In October, Up Norway celebrated its 1st anniversary. Food Studio together with baker Emmanuel Rang were invited to host the celebration, and the chosen location was Losæter.

Up Norway is who you contact if you are after unique travel experiences in Norway. The founder, Torunn Tronsvang, says;

Losæter represents the type of experiences Up Norway prides itself in offering: Explorative design and architecture, sustainability and innovation, tasteful short-travelled food and drinks, and great hosts. We did not want an extravagant celebration, but an intimate event with friends and partners in a location which represents the type of experiences we want to offer our guests.

Torunn´s colleague Agneta Linden Moen adds: Sustainable tourism to me is to let the travellers take part of genuine experiences.The experiences should reflect the places they come from and respect the people who make them.

Losæter is an absolutely crazy and unexpected destination. Situated on a ‘pile of gravel’ in the middle of an highway intersection. I love the contrasts between the future and old traditions, the simplicity of the baking house in contradiction to the futuristic architecture in Bjørvika. The feeling of being in the center of Oslo, yet amidst a flourishing garden by the fjord is really nice. I also love the beautiful boat shaped baking house!

Agneta specialises in local food experiences. She grew up in a family where food always has been a joyful reason to get together. “I love when producers keep up with local traditions through generations because they see how valuable these traditions are to future generations. It is also so incredible when people have the guts to follow their dreams and create new food adventures. I see producers as artists who put a lot of pride and creativity into what they do. By doing so, they give us genuine products with an interesting story.”

Inside the bakehouse we were met by Emmanuel Rang in action, making pizza in the traditional stone oven. Emmanuel is one of the founders of Åpent bakeri, one of Norway’s most renowned bakery chains, and has been involved at Losæter from the beginning in 2012. The grains used were from Anders Næss in Økologisk Spesialkorn. Anders also followed the project from the start together with farmer Johan Swärd, who has been one of the advocates for growing the almost extinct Svedjerug. Watch this film. This evening the meny was pizza with vegetables, herbs and flowers from the garden outside the bakehouse.

Thank you to all our wonderful partners: Tim Wendelboe, Åpent Bakeri, Losæterforeninga and Eiker Ølfabrikk.

Words by Rita Paltiel

Photography by Alexander Benjaminsen