Artist Alexandra Genis on 3D printing flavor molecules

Listen again. Artist and food designer Alexandra Genis is set on challenging your notion of artificiality and what sustainability means in the context of food production. Are natural and wild foods really better? We explore her work and how artificial foods, technology, and art can help us reimagine a better food system.

  • 1:50 The Atoma project, turning individual molecules into spices
  • 2:48 The complexity of flavor and the limits of what we can taste
  • 10:45 The importance of artificial foods in a post-agricultural age 
  • 22:00 Other projects Alexandra’s worked on 
  • 24:00 Vision for the future food system

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Posted in: Denmark

Coffee Collective's Klaus Thomsen on creating sustainability and transparency across the coffee supply chain

Klaus Thomsen is one of the Founders of Coffee Collective. Their goal is to explore and unfold exceptional coffee experiences, in a manner that gives better living conditions to coffee farmers across the globe. For nearly, 15 years they have been pushing the coffee industry to do business differently. In this episode, we discuss their many initiatives from transparently sharing what they pay for coffee to going carbon neutral by 2022. Their dream is for a coffee farmer in Kenya to obtain the same status and living conditions as a winegrower in France. 

  • 11:30 What creates great taste across the supply chain
  • 19:30 Paying farmer’s a fair price 
  • 24:00 Direct trade and opening up the books for transparency
  • 33:00 Creating a market for specialty coffee
  • 50:30 Going carbon neutral by 2022

If you like this episode, check out this podcast with Tim Wendelboe who runs a roastery and coffee shop in Norway as well as a coffee farm in Columbia. We further explore what creates great taste and sustainability in coffee. For more conversations, join our community on Instagram or check out other episodes on www.nordicfoodtech.io.

Posted in: Denmark Norway Sweden

OceanHarvest Founder Joachim Hjerl on regenerative ocean farming

Regenerative ocean farming has been identified as a key solution to climate change. It’s the practice of growing seaweed along with several kinds of shellfish like oysters and mussels not just to feed people, but also to heal the oceans. HavHøst or OceanHarvest is an NGO helping communities throughout the Nordics get set up with toolkits to grow, harvest, and eat from the sea without harming nature or existing underwater ecosystems. In this episode, Joachim Hjerl shares how a crazy idea of growing 20 oysters in Copenhagen’s central harbor became a movement of blue community gardens. 

  • 7:30 An intro to regenerative ocean farming 
  • 14:30 Growing a network of community-supported farms
  • 23:00 Working with policymakers to enable solutions 
  • 36:00 Creating a market to support supply
  • 43:00 Cultural acceptance around new foods 

For more conversations, join our community on Instagram or check out other episodes on www.nordicfoodtech.io.

Posted in: Denmark

Alchemist's Diego Prado on the R&D behind Holisitic Cuisine

Diego Prado is the Head of R&D at Alchemist Explore – the research and development arm of restaurant Alchemist focused on making new dishes and conducting scientific research on products and techniques that create future building blocks for technology. Alchemist was founded in 2015 by Rasmus Munk and introduced a new approach to gastronomy called Holistic Cuisine, which looks at the whole instead of the parts. In this episode, we explore how the Alchemist brings artists, designers, engineers, researchers and chefs together to challenge food as we know it.

  • 10:20 An intro to Holistic Cuisine
  • 14:40 Restaurant Alchemist vs the R&D Test Kitchen
  • 22:30 Academic papers as a foundation for new dishes
  • 28:30 What food will look like in space
  • 38:30 Eating invasive species from jellyfish to butterflies

For more conversations, join our community on Instagram or check out other episodes on www.nordicfoodtech.io.

Posted in: Denmark Norway Sweden

Carlsberg's Tenna Skov Thorsted on sustainability and the Together Towards Zero program

Carlsberg’s Together Towards Zero campaign consists of four major ambitions – ZERO carbon footprint, ZERO water waste, ZERO irresponsible drinking, and a ZERO accidents culture. My guest today is Tenna Skov Thorsted who leads Carlsberg Denmark’s sustainability efforts. Her job is to ensure that these targets are met and that they create value. Join us as Tenna shares how sustainability at Carlsberg works in practice and how they collaborate to get there.

  • 4:00 The organizational structure of sustainability
  • 6:30 The Together Towards Zero campaign
  • 12:00 Where ideas come from
  • 16:00 Examples around water and packaging
  • 35:00 Carlsberg Research Laboratory

For more conversations, join our community on Instagram or check out other episodes on www.nordicfoodtech.io. Your host, Analisa Winther, always appreciates hearing your feedback, thoughts, and key takeaways!

Nordic FoodTech Podcast Host Analisa Winther on how and why the show got started

The Nordic FoodTech Podcast spotlights individuals and organizations who are creating the future through food. In this episode, the Host and Creator of the podcast Analisa Winther is interviewed by radio and podcast personality Andreas Graulund. Listen in as Analisa explains how and why the show started, her background, common themes, how guests are chosen, and so much more.

  • 8:10 How the podcast got started
  • 12:00 The purpose of the show
  • 16:00 How guests are chosen
  • 22:30 Fostering collaboration and breaking down silos
  • 30:00 Why every asked is asked the same 4 questions

To get in touch with Analisa, connect on Instagram or LinkedIn.

Posted in: Denmark

Vivino Founder Heini Zachariassen on disrupting the wine industry with tech and community

Over 10 years ago, Heini Zachariassen and his co-founder Theis Søndergaard founded Vivino because they were frustrated by not knowing which wine to buy. Today, Vivino’s 50 million users can purchase nearly 13 million wines from around the world. The Vivino community has scanned over 1.6 billion wine labels, written 72 million reviews, and given 204 million ratings on 13.5 million bottles of wine. In this episode, Vivino Founder Heini Zachariassen shares the startup’s story of how they disrupted the wine industry.

  • 6:30 How Vivino started
  • 10:30 The first MVP – staying lean and frugal
  • 16:15 The technology and community behind Vivino
  • 30:30 The moment Vivino found product-market fit
  • 40:00 Lessons in leadership 

For more conversations, join our community on Instagram or check out other episodes on www.nordicfoodtech.io. Your host, Analisa Winther, always appreciates hearing your feedback, thoughts, and key takeaways!

C40 Cities Zachary Tofias on how a network of the world’s megacities is addressing climate change

The C40 network consists of 97 cities representing 700+ million citizens and one quarter of the global economy. The mayors of these cities are committed to delivering on the most ambitious goals of the Paris Agreement at the local level and C40 supports them in collaborating effectively, sharing knowledge and driving meaningful, measurable and sustainable action on climate change.

In today’s episode, I speak with Zachary Tofias who serves as the Director of the Food and Waste Program at C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group. We discuss the ins and outs of how C40 works, the power of cities to create change, why networks matter, how to spread good ideas, and examples of how cities are taking bold climate action.

  • 2:30 What C40 is and how it works
  • 7:40 Why cities can have big food system impact
  • 11:15 How good ideas spread across cities
  • 30:00 The big opportunity around food systems
  • 36:00 How to establish a network

Share your feedback and thoughts or discover new episodes on Instagram @nordicfoodtech.