Posted in: Denmark

Claus Meyer on eating as an agricultural act

Claus Meyer is a true gastronomic entrepreneur. He co-founded Noma with Rene Redzepi, which has been voted the best restaurant in the world multiple times. In 2004, he spearheaded the writing of the New Nordic Manifesto, an influential philosophy that spread like wildfire on how chefs can approach cooking using traditional ingredients and local produce. Claus is also behind the Melting Pot Foundation, which trains individuals in underserved communities from Morocco to Bolivia and even in Danish prisons to become chefs. He’s also been the host of multiple cooking shows with global reach, authored several cookbooks, started a catering company, deli, bakery chain, country hotel, orchard, and is behind several high-end restaurants globally. The red thread through all of Claus’s work is to create healthy, delicious meals that inspire us to see eating as an agricultural act. In this episode, we discuss Claus’ career and how his opinion on what a good food future looks like has changed over time.

NordGen's Lise Lykke Steffensen on storing seeds to safeguard our future food supply

At the top of Norway near the Arctic Circle, you will find the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. Like you and I back up our phones and computers, seed banks around the world serve as the ultimate insurance policy for the world’s food supply. They store copies of every important crop variety available in the world today. Their goal is give future generations options. Whether we face war, climate change, or population growth, they make sure that we have seeds to replant and genetic diversity in our food supply for years to come. Lise Lykke Steffensen is the Director of NordGen or the Nordic Genetic Resource Center. NordGen runs the Svalbard Global Seed Vault along with the Norwegian Ministry of Agricutlure and Food and the Crop Trust. Their mission is to preserve and promote the sustainable use of the genetic resources within plants, farm animals, and forestry in the Nordic countries. Join us as we discuss the importance of genetic diversity and the role of seed keepers in ensuring our future food supply. 

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Posted in: Denmark Sweden

Fiskerikajen's Jesper Hansen on modern day fishmongering

Jesper Hansen started his career as a Michelin chef before getting into fish. He was the Sous Chef of Søllerød Kro in Denmark helping the famous fine dining restaurant get its first star in 2006.  Then his career took a turn. Today, Jesper is the Executive Managing Director of Fiskerikajen, a modern-day fishmonger that has been selling sustainably sourced fish to many of the best and most famous restaurants in the world since 1999/

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Posted in: Denmark
Kaffee Bueno Founders

Kaffe Bueno on unleashing coffee's full potential

Coffee is a filled with bioactive compounds that beneficial for our health and well being, but when you or I brew a cup we tap less than 1% of the plant’s full potential. The rest we throw away in the coffee grounds. That’s where Kaffe Bueno comes in. They are a bioscience company upcycling coffee grounds into ingredients for the cosmetic, nutraceutical, and functional food and beverage industry. Today, I speak with Alejandro Franco, Co-Founder and Chief Commercial Officer of Kaffe Bueno. We talk about their startup journey, how we can unlock food waste to create high value products, and what it means to design a circular business model.

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Marine Stewardship Council on the future of fisheries

The Marine Stewardship Council is kind of a big deal in the world of fish. They are the organization that sets the standards for sustainable fisheries worldwide. If a fishery meets MSC’s standards, their products are awarded with a blue ecolabel. Many global organizations like IKEA and McDonald’s exclusively purchase MSC certified fish. For them, its a standard that denotes quality and sustainability. This also means that who and what gets certified matters a lot in the global market. 

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Posted in: Denmark Sweden

Line Rise Nielsen on big kitchens for food system transformation

Hospitals, schools, prisons, elderly homes, day cares, and corporate canteens are all examples of public or professional kitchens. Every day these kitchens churn out hundreds of meals, which means they have a pretty major influence not only on what people eat, but also the entire supply chain. In today’s episode, I sit down with Line Rise Nielsen, The Food Policy Director of Changing Food a consultancy that helps kitchens convert to more sustainable practices. Line and I get into how these kitchens are undergoing transition and why their role is sup important.

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Maliina Abelsen on unleashing sustainable solutions

Maliina Abelsen is the Head of Programme at UNICEF in Greenland. From 2009-2013 she was a Member of Parliament in the Greenlandic Inatsisartut where she first served as the Minister of Social Affairs and Equality and then as the Minister of Finance. She has also served as the CCO of Air Greenland and the CEO of the Arctic Winter Games 2016. This episode was recorded in Nuuk as part of the UNLEASH Regional Innovation Lab, which gathered 200 people under the age of 35 from the Arctic and Nordics to develop solutions to the challenges we are facing as a region. We had a particular focus on biodiversity, education, and health and wellbeing. In this episode, we discuss what creating a sustainable solution from indigenous knowledge and modern science and technology can look like, why food is a powerful healer, and how we must consider the whole in our creations.

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Posted in: Denmark

Kitchen Collective Founder Mia Maja Hansson on launching new food ventures

Mia Maja Hansson has been super influential in nurturing Copenhagen’s food startup scene. She launched Kitchen Collective, one of the first test kitchens in Europe followed by a co-working collective and street food festival for startups to test new products. The red thread in everything she does is a vision to create a more sustainable, diverse food culture that’s supported by healthy businesses and healthy people. In today’s episode, we talk to Mia Maja about her journey, common mistakes she sees food entrepreneurs make, and recommendations for running a test kitchen.

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Posted in: Denmark Sweden

Aarstiderne Founder Søren Ejlersen on pioneering home grocery delivery

It feels like grocery delivery services and subscription meal boxes are everywhere these days. But it’s actually not that new of a trend. Aarstiderne was one of the first to enter the space over 20 years ago. Today, they supply around 80,000 households in Denmark and 10,000 in Sweden with organic groceries. Their goal is to help more families make green food choices. Join me and the Co-Founder of Aarstiderne Søren Ejlersen as we dive into the highs and low of their startup journey and the philosophy behind their universe of good food ventures.

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