Food Studio

Today started with a meeting being cancelled, which created a bit of free time in my day, and instead of rushing off, I found a spot in the sun on a bench on the way back from nursery and listened to a podcast.

Lately, I have been working on creating two collections for everyone behind the Future Library in Oslo. It has been an incredibly honourable assignment. To be allowed to dive into work with so much love, and to give care and love back to those behind it, is one of the finest invitations we have received this year.

At this very moment, I am sitting in a packed café, while outside it is pouring down. The summer holidays were suddenly over; emails have started ticking in, and tasks suddenly have a deadline approaching. This summer, I have truly unplugged, given myself a proper break from everything, limited input and noise like news, social media, and mobile scrolling. We have worked both physically with restoration, carpentry and painting, made beds, and communicated with guests. But I have been very selective about what kind of input I wanted to take in.

This Thursday, we are once again inviting everyone to gather around the long table at Losæter. This time, to honour everyone who, in their own way, has left their mark—big or small—on the co-creation of this place, which has evolved into so much more than just a location. It feels a bit as if the grassroots installed a magnet that pulls right at the hearts of those who truly care, are curious, and wish to understand, and that this force doesn't let go easily.

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.

Field notes from the process with us in Food Studio & Future Library. It has been a long time since I have felt that I could say "we" in Food Studio. There have been many years where I have steered the ship alone, cut costs down to a minimum and only said yes to commissions I knew I could deliver on my own.

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.

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?

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?»

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.

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.

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.

One of the most striking aspects of the photos in the "What The World Eats" exhibition at the Nobel Peace Center is the contrast between raw foods and industrial products. What implications does this have for not only the health of the people, but also for some of the biggest challenges we're facing as a whole planet?

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 October 11th, Food Studio joined forces with Growlab Oslo to host a dinner on behalf of Kinfolk. The theme of the evening was A Messy Meal: Embracing Wabi-sabi in the Everyday. It was not hard to find the right place for the Kinfolk dinner. Food Studio’s recent location is one of the quirkiest places in central Oslo. A derelict factory building where the city’s deranged and destitute used to work. The spacious halls and narrow corridors still tell their tale.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Four years ago, on one dark, melancholic winter’s eve, I found myself lying on the couch watching Netflix. Sounds familiar, right? The problem was, for me at that time, it felt like the only thing I could master.  Yes, I went to work. Yup, I did the dishes and the laundry. I prepared food, showered and walked my dog. But compared to what I used to be able to do and what I longed to do it felt like all I did was lay on the couch, barely processing what I was watching.

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.

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.

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.

"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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Thomas Harttung, the man Time magazine calls a hero of the environment, presents a few ideas for how cooks can help improve our food systems at MAD 2015.