Column / January 2012
The past year Maaemo has been given a lot of attention, also here in Norway, but maybe most of all from abroad. With their non-compromising approach to organic and local ingredients, the art of cooking, design and the whole food experience, they have mesmerized many, driven bloggers bananas and made food critics wish their dice had more than six eyes. But if you ask them, they are just getting started.
The birds and the bees, farmers and business. Why viable agriculture is important for soil, society and you. Never in history have so few produced so much. Successful streamlining you may think? But what effect does this have on our food? And what is in our food, actually? What do we really know about the complex context in which our food grows?
"With these kinds of projects one must be surrounded by passionate souls, by people that love what they do and what they stand for." Jon-Frede Engdahl reaches out his hand and offers a good cup of coffee. It’s easy to talk with him about raw materials, market shares, possibilities, ecology and idealism. One story leads to another and, before you know it, it’s lunchtime and the restaurant is suddenly filled with hungry women and young mothers on maternity leave.
October 2011 we visited Nordgard Aukrust Farm in Lom. The invitation to experience the offerings of autumn, as well as a cooking course with Maaemos’ Esben Holmboe Bang tempted Food Studio to Nordgard Aukrust Farm during the past harvest season.