Food Studio

I live on the Merri Creek, in the inner northern suburbs of the city of Melbourne. Most days I cross the creek, or at least glimpse its waters from afar. I look for changes in the water level, in the clarity, in the speed of the flow.

At Food Studio, we believe that learning goes hand in hand with hands-on experience. That is why we are very happy to be able to facilitate a wonderful series of cooking classes with self taught fermenter and bone broth enthusiast Bård Watn!

“Are you ready?” asks the artist, with a sculpture shaped like an animal head over her shoulders. “Yes. Let´s go, then”, replies the baker, carrying a backpack constructed from wood filled with seeds, sourdough bread and some naan. They are followed by four other “carriers of bread”, the artist group, Futurefarmers, and the baker, Emmanuel Rang. They start the walk from Losæter – an urban agricultural site in the middle of Oslo–to the peri-urban farm of Johan Swärd.

Picture the scene: you lift your spoon ready to dive into the soft folds of an exquisitely light soufflé. A song comes on over the radio, but which one? What combination of frequencies, rhythms and musical intervals could best enhance, or even transform, the experience of eating this airy treat? Perhaps a thundering baritone bass line would be too cumbersome, but what of a delicate and dreamy aria? Does sound in fact have a taste?

2nd of February we gather a group of collaborators, friends and new acquaintances in Kødbyen, Copenhagen, for a night of exploring, conversation and dining. Gitte Holmboe of Bøgedal Bryghus and chef Thomas Randsøe, along with Anne Lunell and Charles Nystrand from Koppi, made sure we ate and drank well. The guest of honor this night was Stéphane Meyer and Lise Kvan, from the Jura region of France and Paris respectively.

Fremja is a new social therapeutic initiative in Norway for youths and grown-ups that for different reasons need adapted work or living situations. Frode Wendelboe is one of the founders and calls himself an artist of care. We had a talk about the need to merge ecological and social work and why the solutions are interdependent.

Food studio loves road trips. Most of all we love the stops along the way. The bakery “Bakeriet i Lom” is one of those places. It's a real gem. The bakery is located in the small mountain village Lom, a few hours’ drive from Oslo, not far from the national park Jotunheimen. The man behind it, Morten Schakenda, has been a great inspiration for Food Studio.

Almost everyone that travels to Hoddevika, comes for the waves. Surrounded by mountains, the small narrow sheltered bay of Hoddevika is shielded from the worst winds, and in many ways also shielded from the everyday noise of the rest of the world. Hoddevika may have only 30 local residents and phone signals that come and go, but the area is highly connected to the rest of the world through the sea.

As a member of the Koperativet you get a bag of the best seasonal and locally produced vegetables from biodynamic or organic farmers. Food from farmers who run their farms with great dedication, knowledge and love. We have used these bags as the starting point for our courses and when you have the ingredients in your kitchen. Your job is to use, prepare and enjoy this food so that all the love and nourishment contained in the raw materials becomes available to you.

Photographer and farmer Finn Dale Iversen and Evelyn Romer Iversen are the two friendly faces behind the entire operation at the biodynamic farm at Bergsmyrene. We brought our guest to their farm along with Elizabeth Brockfield and Growlab for an inspirational evening on sustainable cooking and urban farming.

Bøgedal Bryghus, a small craft brewery located in Jylland in Denmark, delivers beer for a number of acclaimed restaurants, including Noma and Aamanns in Copenhagen, as well as Maaemo in Oslo. Their beers are especially celebrated for the full-bodied malt flavor, the result of an old traditional brewing method making the so-called “Godtøl”, directly translated good beer. And good beer it certainly is.

Foodmrkt, Emergence Projects, Food Studio and Food Evolution joined forces with Oslo Business Region to put scalable business models, sustainability and digital technology on the agenda. We asked Nordic front runners to share best practice and invited thinkers, doers and makers with an interest in being a part of the change to join us for a day of talks, discussions and actions.

Food Studio got up at 5 a.m. to spread and pack 2000 sandwiches, serving up a tasty, organic and free breakfast to Oslos' early birds, together with Trøbbelskyter and Mathallen Vulkan! Food Studios goal was to challenge the government's requirement of 15% of all food turnover in 2020 being organic. Food Studio went for 50%.
Photos: Christoffer Johannesen

On a sunny autumn day we take the bus to Frognerkilen and walk up to Bygdø Kongsgård, up the gravel road, to find ourselves surrounded by fields and forests just a few stops away from the city. All around us are the intense colours of autumn, and the sun is casting a warm, yellow hue. It is the last day of ØKOUKA, and for the third time we celebrate the week with a feast at Bygdø Kongsgård.

On the outskirts of Hvitsten, right above Drøbak fjord, Ramme Gaard lies as a gem; a cultural and agricultural paradise, enthralling all its visitors either with its art, plays and famous baroque garden, or its farm grounds, bursting with joyful animals and vibrant vegetables.

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.

Since 1881 Iittala’s timeless design has gone from being familiar in Finland and Scandinavia, to becoming a well known table- and cookware brand all over the world. This particular event was meant to inspire people to rethink how we gather around tables and food. How do we set aside time to eat with friends and family? How do we not just decorate our tables for weekends and special events, but for weekdays too? Iittala wanted to focus on just this and to inspire people to make room to meet around food in their busy lives.

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 March we paid a visit to Bøgedal Bryghus in Vejle, Denmark to visit the mastermind brewer couple Gitte Holmboe and Casper Vorting. Their use of traditional brewing methods as well as ancient grain types result in some of the most interesting beers around.

This autumn saw the launch of Marimekko's new Weather Diary collection. The Finnish textile and clothing design house has created a new interior decoration collection inspired by seasonal weather patterns, as well as the palate of colours a Nordic autumn brings. Food Studio was tasked with creating a food concept for the collection's Norwegian launch.

On a warm Thursday evening in May, Prindseloftet coworking space was finally ready for a well-deserved housewarming out of the ordinary.

Norway's current presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers saw the country play host to the annual New Nordic Food Conference held at Oslo's gleaming newly opened Mathallen on 6-7th November.

After a long, hot summer, the woods are changing and preparing for autumn. The change can be felt in the air, which is now filled with the smells of berries, herbs and fungus. It is the time just before harvest, and the time when the cattle come back from summer dairy. It is the warmest month of the year, when the fish seek to the deepest part of the lakes to cool off. The dense forest is moist, hot and mystically dark – intensively yielding its last produce before the inset of autumn.

OSLO. Dark grey sky, it could almost pass as night. It’s Saturday. Restaurant Day. On the lawn between the Academy of Art and the freezing river Akerselva lays a tiny hut. It wasn't here yesterday.

This summer, Food Studio crossed the sea to bring a Nordic Get Away experience to the french capital. We spent an evening biking through Paris, visiting Holybelly and Parc de Belleville for a herbology workshop, before sitting down and enjoy a picknick with fresh vegetables from the market.

Secrecy is always intriguing when it comes to food. Fortunately, the Danish chef duo Bo Lindegaard and Lasse Askov are equally as good at keeping secrets as they are at preparing delicious meals. Together they run the design/food collaboration I’m a Kombo in Copenhagen, which refers to the team’s combination of tasteful skills and limitless imagination.

"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.