Future Food with Analisa Winther

Daniel is a consultant to The Rockefeller Foundation Food Initiative. He previously supported the Foundation’s food and agriculture strategy refresh. Now he supports the Foundation’s work to advance a more nourishing and sustainable food system. Daniel is also the author behind the FoodTech Weekly newsletter as well as a mentor to several FoodTech accelerators and an advisor to a number of startups in the food and ag space.

In every episode of this show, we ask guests what their vision for the future of the food system is as well as what’s missing to make that vision a reality. Since 2019, The Rockefeller Foundation has run a Food System Vision Prize, distributing prize money to organizations across the globe that develop and share their vision for the future food system that they aspire to create by the year 2050. Join us as we discuss the vision that Daniel sees developing in the Nordics compared to what he sees happening in other parts of the globe. We also talk about what it takes to turn these visions into realities.

To join the Nordic FoodTech fall coaching program, sign up for a discovery call here. For live interviews, check out our Instagram here. 

• 8:00  The Food System Vision Prize
• 19:00 How visions for our food system have changed over history
• 22:30 The Nordic food system vision vs other parts of the world 
• 36:30 How COVID-19 is impacting the food system

Isolated in the North Atlantic, for many years the Faroese largely relied on eating what was found in the environment around them. They learned to use every bit of animal and how to store and preserve as much as possible for as long as possible resulting in a fascinating and unique food culture that I discuss with Kinga Eysturland who runs a bed & breakfast in the Faroes and is an author of “Faroe Islands: A Tourist & Cultural Guidebook.

This episode was recorded live on @nordicfoodtech's Instagram. If you'd like to see the foods Kinga shows and tells about, follow the link to the video here. 

• 4:30 How the Faroe Island’s history and geography has influenced its food traditions
• 12:30 Faroese fermentation or ræst and why it’s a revelation
• 17:30 The Faroe Island’s alcohol prohibition and the upcoming beverage scene
• 24:00 The influence of Koks and eating-out culture in the Faroes
• 30:30 The dishes Kinga serves for a Faroese dinner

And my fall coaching program is now open! If you are an entrepreneur or changemaker looking to make a business or leadership breakthrough, sign up for a chemistry call here to work 1-on-1 with me. 

My guest today is Mie Tingsager Nielsen whose relationship to design and sustainability is expansive. She is a sustainable business advisor at Closed Loop and the manager of The Fabric Source, a sustainable textile library with more than 2,000 sustainable fabrics from more than 200 suppliers around the world that is focused on showcasing the latest and most innovative materials that can be applied across the fashion and textile industry. Join us as we discuss the world of farming fabrics and how textiles made from crops like cotton and hemp are not so different from the agricultural commodities we grow, harvest, and eat.  

• 5:40 Overview of The Fabric Source 
• 7:38 What you need to know about textiles 
• 11:42 New technologies shifting the space
• 15:33 Brands leading the way
• 23:08 Mie's vision for the future

For more conversation, join our community on Instagram and hear more episodes at www.nordicfoodtech.io. 

Noah Erhun has 8 years of experience working in artisanal bakeries in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and today in Denmark where he leads production at Juno The Bakery in Copenhagen. His expertise is in naturally leavened breads and heritage grains. In this episode, Noah takes us on a ride through time and around the world as we explore how heritage grains are making a comeback with the surprising help of Instagram.

• 1:20 How Noah became a baker
• 6:30 The resurgence of small craft bakeries
• 9:00 How industrialization changed the game
• 14:30 Instagram and the alternative grain economy 
• 21:40 What you should know about Scandinavia's heritage grains 

For more conversation, join our community on Instagram and hear more episodes at www.nordicfoodtech.io.

Climate change is warming the Nordics making it increasingly possible to produce wine commercially. Recently, the New York Times published a front page article exploring the budding scene of wine makers who see the Nordics as the next frontier. My guest is Betina Newberry who was featured in the article and owns Denmark's largest vineyard, Dyrehøj Vingaard, along with her brother. This episode is full of insights on what it takes to produce wine in the Nordics and how the industry is developing as Betina shares her entrepreneurial journey. 

• 1:40 How the vineyard started 
• 5:00 Lessons learned in starting a Danish vineyard
• 14:50 How climate change is changing the wine scene
• 18:30 The taste of Nordic wine
• 24:50 The future of wine making 

For more conversation, join our community on Instagram and hear more episodes at www.nordicfoodtech.io.

Malena Sigurgeirsdóttir is the co-founder of Wholi Foods, which was one of the first European companies to produce products with insect protein. Their portfolio includes snack bites, crisp bread, protein bars, and an insect-based meat alternative, which premiered at Roskilde Festival. 

In this episode, you’ll hear how insects are tiny, but mighty, able to fight poverty, boost nutrition, reduce pollution, and combat climate change. Malena gives us the inside scoop on how they solved her own health issues and why soon they may not feel like such a novel food.  

• 4:30 The avocado of insects
• 5:15 How Wholi Foods was started
• 12:40 Insects vs beef in taste, sustainability, and nutrition
• 18:50 Vegans, vegetarians, and flexitarians take on insects
• 29:10 Why the western world needs insects in their diet

For more conversation, join our community on Instagram and hear more episodes at www.nordicfoodtech.io.

Alexandra Genis is an artist and the principal designer at TAS2R, a Food Design Studio in Berlin propagating Gastro-Intestinal Science-Fiction. She uses food as a biochemical and visual tool to transmit challenging ideas about ecology, innovation and science. Her projects seek to reframe human perception around what an edible substance is as well as challenge our consumption behaviors. In this episode, we look at the power of art and design to realize new possibilities. 

• 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

Episode Transcript

Related Links

Video of 3D Printed Flavor Molecules

Coffee Collective on the complex, delicious taste of coffee

Europe’s black market for wild foods

Climate change and producing wine in the Nordics

Eating insects is an ancient tradition, but it’s a novel food in the EU

Nick’s using high tech to make guilt-free treats

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This podcast was recorded live at the Future of Food Hackathon in Riga, Latvia and is supported by the Northern Dimension Partnership on Culture. For more conversation, join our community on Instagram and hear more episodes at www.nordicfoodtech.io.

Is foraging sustainable? Is a black market around wild foods okay? Dr. Mikelis Grivins, a senior researcher at the Baltic Studies Centre, has built his academic career on studying foraging and the sustainability transition in Central and Eastern Europe. In this episode, we discuss the alternative food system and business that exists around wild foods in Europe. We also take a look at how post-Soviet states like Latvia had to develop alternative food pathways like foraging and how that feeds into today's conversations around sustainability. 

• 4:00 Overview of alternative food systems are important
• 17:00 4 types of foragers across Europe
• 20:20 Exploitation, transparency & regulation in the wild food market
• 25:00 Wild washing

Artist Alexandra Genis on why all foods are artificial

Using blockchain to trace food from farm to fork 

The chef preserving Iceland’s food traditions

The Importance of Microbes in the Greenlandic Diet

Regenerative agriculture and our connection with nature

This podcast was recorded live at the Future of Food Hackathon in Riga, Latvia and is supported by the Nordic Council of Minister's Office in Latvia. For more conversation, join our community on Instagram and hear more episodes on www.nordicfoodtech.io.

My guest is Raz Godelnik Assistant Professor of Strategic Design and Management at the Parsons School of Design New School where he is exploring new business models and design solutions. In this episode, we discuss the DEFT framework, which provides a model for designing and implementing climate solutions.

Raz is also the co-founder of two green startups - Hemper Jeans and Eco-Libris. He is involved with sandbox Zero where he develops sustainable business models, climate action, and sustainability-as-unusual tools and frameworks. He holds an MBA from Tel Aviv University and a BA in Communication and Economics from the Hebrew University.

• 1:10 Overview of the DEFT Framework 
• 5:12 How to shift values, beliefs, and attitudes
• 9:50 The importance of affordability, delight, and meaning
• 17:10 Translating solutions into stories
• 19:15 Vision for the future food system

Join our community on Instagram and find more episodes at www.nordicfoodtech.io. Raz is also looking to collaborate on climate experiments. Contact info and details at the end of the episode! 

For a millennia, the Inuit people have managed to survive off the land of Greenland, an extreme Arctic environment. Aviaja Lyberth Hauptmann has been conducting research on the Greenlandic Diet Revolution, which looks at the microbiomes of traditional Greenlandic foods, an almost exclusively animal-based diet.

Aviaja's work encompasses culture, climate change, nutrition, microbiology, biotech, big industry, and politics. Full of fascinating insights, this conversation will get you thinking about what health really means for humans and the planet and how the two can and can’t be connected. It’s also an important conversation to consider how vulnerable communities fit in o our global climate solutions.

• 5:20 Overview of diet, traditions, and culture
• 10:20 Why a plant-based diet is causing problems in Greenland
• 26:00 Vision for the future food system 
• 30:30 How Arctic micro-organisms create big business opportunities beyond oil & gas
• 38:00 Wisdom collected from nature and the Inuits

Episode transcript

Links 

How foraging is creating an alternative food system in the Baltics

Why Chr. Hansen is building a microbial platform

The Michelin chef preserving Iceland’s food traditions

What is the Faroese kitchen?

Landmarks (one of my fav books) on the power of language to shape our sense of place and connection to nature

The EAT-Lancet report, which greatly influenced global dietary recommendations

Join our community on Instagram and find more episodes at www.nordicfoodtech.io.