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. 

Episode Transcript 

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.

Episode Transcript 

Posted in: Iceland

Nordic Wasabi grows in the greenhouses of Iceland

Real wasabi is rare and expensive. It requires a specific temperature and a constant stream of fresh water to grow, which has isolated it to the mountains of Japan. That was until Nordic Wasabi came along. They’re growing wasabi in Iceland using the country’s natural geothermal energy and freshwater. In today’s episode, we tell Nordic Wasabi’s startup story. We cover everything you could want to know about real wasabi, the amazing possibilities that come with greenhouses, and the challenges of being the first company in Iceland to try and export vegetables.

Episode Transcript

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: Iceland

Chef Gunnar Karl Gíslason on Iceland's food traditions

Gunnar Karl Gíslason is the founding chef behind Dill, which was the first restaurant in Iceland to receive a Michelin star. He is also the author of North: The New Northern Cuisine of Iceland. In this episode, we trace Iceland’s food traditions through the individuals that are helping to keep them alive

  • 2:15 Rundown of Gunnar’s career and opening a res 
  • 7:30 Defining New Nordic food and the Icelandic kitchen 
  • 16:00 Finding inspiration in old traditions
  • 33:00 The evolution of the Icelandic kitchen 

We also reference this episode with Amass on creating a zero-waste kitchen. As well as Saltverk’s startup story. 

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