Food Studio

Try and ask any child to come along with you to a hospital. You’d probably find that most would dread it – the grey corridors, the sterile environment,  the chemical smells, the absence of life. Hospitals are usually not a place you come to be invigorated, but, rather, a place to be avoided at all costs. So, let's then picture an ideal hospital ... a place dedicated to promoting life, beauty and health on all levels.

Why is community important and why do humans seek it? What are we actually searching for in the meeting and melting with others and how does it relate to my personal evolution? If the evolution of this planet also is mirrored in the ways we relate, what lessons are waiting to be learned in terms of the way we build our communities? These questions have been echoing in my being this fall.

Can silence be a superpower? What is the potential of slowing it all down and diving into the practice of listening? Poet and researcher Olga Lehmann has studied what silence can do to us, our multi-layered health and everyday wellbeing.

According to Ayurveda — the world’s oldest, uninterrupted system of medicine — svastha is the healthy, living individual — one who is embodying svasthya. And according to the Charaka Samhita, one of Ayurveda’s foundational, extant compendiums, “An individual is the epitome of the universe, as all the material and spiritual phenomena of the universe are present in the individual, and all those present in the individual are also contained in the universe.

In the search for solutions that recognize the interconnectedness of root causes, my pilgrimage led me to the Ayurvedic system of healing. Can the legacy of Eastern medicine traditions contribute to our quest towards restoring balance and reviving our connection to nature?

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.

“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.

Cock-a-doodle-doo! The rooster Tor-Ild calls early in the morning Saturday, June 13th. During the summer, this usually happens twice: first, around five as the sun starts to warm up the hen house and then around 7:30, when it is time to wake. I peek out the window and see the green leaves on the trees move gently. The weather is nice, a few scattered clouds and some glints of sunlight. The air is clear and filled with the scents of early summer: shots of spruce, lilac, grass, forget-me-not, manure, lily of the valley, birch, roses, pine, lichen, timo- thy, and soil; the sun-heated fur of horses and dogs.

By walking we ask questions By walking we make a path 7-9 of June Flatbread Society with Oslo Apiary invited to a three-day journey from Losæter, Oslo, to the Henie Onstad Art Center, Bærum. This walk connects these two sites via the coastline. At once a commons and a site of rapid enclosure, this coastline will be activated by a group of bodies as a means to keep it free and open and inline with Norway’s, "all mans right to roam": allemannsretten.

Snøen hadde ikke ligget lenge på fortauene, og bakken var glatt og minusgradene holdt seg stabilt. Utenfor Schous bibliotek på Grünerløkka knitret det ivrig fra bålet og nysgjerrige forbipasserende satt seg ned på benkene og fikk en varmende kopp med ingefærgløgg som fått nytt liv. Det var tid for det årlige overskuddsbordet, et langbord dekket for alle byens innbyggere med maten man trodde ingen ville ha.

British-American writer Henry James  once wrote “It takes an endless amount  of history to make even a little tradition”.  We have many food traditions in Norway  that can prove this to be true.  The small team of nerdy dairy  enthusiast at Rørosmeieriet are working  hard to preserve and take care of one of  these treasures as they balance the fine  line between tradition and innovation.  From ancient knowledge, maybe a bit  of luck and skillful handcraft, a strange  milky brew from the past is giving us  vital health and connection to our roots. 

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.

« Can you hear the birds talk », Veronika said and took me by the hand. We paced up and down the corridor, our hands intertwined. At the end of the corridor we took a break and looked out the small window that smiled of autumn. I was hoping the iron bars could melt away in the smile, but the bars resisted there was not enough space for the birds to fly in through the window to our locked ward.

We waste food enough to feed one billion people, yet growing your own carrots can get you in jail. The very first EAT Food Forum in Stockholm this spring gave us some spicy mouthfuls.

Restaurants in Oslo want more organic and locally produced food. Farmers in Eastern Norway need help with logistics and more insight as to what restaurants want. Nofima’s network called Chefs & Farmers, "Kokken og Bonden", is aiming to enhance the ties between innovative farmers and the best chefs in the city.

When I was a child, the act of painting or drawing was always the way of communication. It was also my only weapon which can protect my own realm, and make the realm visible with my own hand. When I work on illustrations, I always keep this in mind. On our latest journey to Japan we were lucky to work with Yuri in Osaka. Inspired by her work we wanted to share her story with you here.

MAD is sharpening the knives, mobilizing chefs from all over the world to use their powers both inside and outside the kitchen. Fighting for social sustainibility, a better distribution of resources and a change in the economical structure. At the 4th MAD symphosium in Copenhagen, the pot was boiling around some very important questions; «What's Cooking? What's Changing? What's Not Working?»

Siri Kalla is the first certified Fertility Awareness educator in Norway and founder of Our Fertility, a platform for sharing knowledge about holistic reproductive health and the female body. In this interview she tells us why the method of Fertility Awareness can help you gain profound knowledge about your body and self, and how creating an inner sustainable health directly  relates to sustainability on a macro level. 

On Norway’s 200th National Day, May 17th, 2014, we hosted a dinner on behalf of Kinfolk. The theme of the evening was l'ésprit de la mer – the spirit of the sea– so we headed out to an island in the Oslo Fjord, while other sea inspired Kinfolk dinners were going on in many different corners of the world.

It all began up at the old cabin Sæterhytten on Dronningberget, where everyone met to a introductory speech by Idun Leinaas, followed by a warming, bright orange pumpkin soup heated over a bonfire and served in the chill autumnal air. As people finished their cup of soup, it was time to continue on in one of the four knowledge groups.

2019 was the year Oslo was awarded the status of European Green Capital. 675 environment-related events around Oslo's streets, buildings and nature. In December, the stage was set for the final feast, and the Food Studio provided guidance on the menu and décor. A mix of local residents, politicians and organizers poured into the main entrance to City Hall on December 16.

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.

In 1971, a group of young activists occupied a vacant barracks area in Copenhagen. Their vision was to build an alternative society based on sustainability, community and consensus democracy. After forty years of tumult with the police and the government, Christiania has been working towards seceding from the Kingdom of Denmark since 2011. But what has happened to make them come so close to becoming a legal state? And can the community of Christiania cooperate with the government on sustainability work? I spoke to State Archivist Ole Lykke, hoping to understand the connection between community, sustainability, drugs and democracy in Christiania, Copenhagen.

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 third weekend of March this year, the city invited street food vendors, organizers, chefs and journalists to Streat Helsinki, a two-day street food conference and festival aiming to raise a vibrant and interesting street food culture in Scandinavia. We were there to listen, get inspired and feast on all sorts of street food.

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?

Aritayaki, a kind of Japanese pottery, finds its roots in the ancient ceramics town of Arita located on Kyushu Island in southern Japan. It was in this town, in the year 1616, that the Koreans first introduced the art of pottery to Japan. Up to today Arita still produces ceramics made by local craftsmen using the distinctive ingredient of clay made from crushed stone.

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.

In an economy struggling to stabilize itself after the devastating earthquakes of 2015, innovative solutions from the younger generation of changemakers brings hope for the future of the Himalayan country. Saurav Dhakal and his Green Growth team are creating waves of positive impact in both local communities and the national food systems, and similar initiatives are sprouting across the foothills of majestic mountain ranges.

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.

Flo og Fjære is a widely used term that describes the growth and nature around the coastline of Norway, and it was this concept that set the scene for Food Studio's seventh event held in the middle of May.

Well-seated in a 120 years old, large, wooden building at Bygdøy - originally a museum for agricultural tools - are over a hundred hungry guests. They are here to experience a dinner prepared by cooks from three of Oslo's best restaurants; Smalhans, Fru K and Kolonihagen.

You know that Christmas song? The one where they sing about Christmas being the ”most wonderful time of the year”? Although Christmas has it perks, and can definitely offer some very cosy, wonderful moments, they got it wrong. The most wonderful time of year isn’t Christmas. It’s spring. It’s now.

"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.