Future Food with Analisa Winther

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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How supermarkets are preparing for the future of food 

Ellen MacArthur Foundation on building circular food cities

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About the Nordic FoodTech Podcast

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If you're only now talking about turmeric, you're too late. Sparks & Honey's Daily Culture Briefings focus on the cultural signals that are constantly shaping our new normal and how that affects your brand. Today, we look at new and emerging ingredients and discuss strategies for determining which flavors are fads and which are here to stay. Our guest expert is Analisa Winther, Host of the Nordic FoodTech Podcast and corporate innovation venture scout.

I pulled together three of the top investors in food and ag from the Nordics for a fast-paced, spirit conversation on how they view and are investing in the future of food. We have Marika King from PINC representing corporate venture capital, Lauri Reuter from the Nordic FoodTech VC looking at the bridge between science and entrepreneurship, and Gustaf Brandberg from the family office of Gullspånge Invest Re:Food, which has an evergreen strucutre. I’ve done individual episodes with each of these investors diving into their backstory and investment thesis. Find those in the show links below. This conversation was recorded at Sweden FoodTech’s Big Meet.

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Interviews with other Nordic investors

Marika King on Paulig's investment arm (PINC) 

Lauri Reuter on the Nordic FoodTech VC

Gustaf Brandberg on Gullspång Invest's Re:Food 

Chromologics on fermenting natural red colors

Nick's on the future of sweets 

Oatly's startup story with Founder Björn Öste

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Building a food company and transitioning to more sustainable agriculture takes time and requires more patient capital with a long-term view. Re:food is part of Gullspång Invest, a Swedish family office that operates with an evergreen structure. This means that they can invest for the long term without posing time constraints. Located in Stockholm and San Francisco,  Re:Food invested early in some of the most successful food companies that have come out of the Nordics so far like Oatly and Nick’s. The firm focuses on investing across four themes: alternative proteins & fats, regenerative farming, sustainable supply chains, and healthy diets. In this episode, Re:Food's Co-Founder Gustaf Brandberg shares the company's investment thesis, background, and vision for the future food system. 

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3 Nordic investors take on the future of food

Oatly's Startup Story with Founder Bjorn Oste

Nick's Startup Story with Founder Niclas Luthman 

Stockholm Resilience Center on supporting people and the planet

Sweden FoodTech on Stockholm as a future food city

Gullspång’s “Food Is Solvable” Report

More interviews with Nordic VCs

More interviews from Sweden

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Water is key because we cannot live without it. We needed to nurture and water our crops and to manufacture all kinds of different things. In today's episode, we explore the future of water as it relates to agriculture and life on Earth. My guest is Peter Holme Jensen, who is the Chief Innovation Officer of Aquaporin. They have developed an innovative technology to treat and filter water on an industrial scale. The design is based on how our bodies naturally filter water through something called an aquaporin protein. In this episode, we dive into Aquaporin's approach to innovation and how they have built a business based on biomimicry or the science of applying nature's genius to solve human problems. We also get into the science behind Aquaporin’s technology, why watter matters, and the company's startup story since it was founded in 2005.

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Book: The Age of Living Machines

Aquaporin's publication in Science that started it all 

Carlsberg on sustainability and water in food production

Chr Hansen on the world of enzymes 

Chromologics on fermenting natural colors

Spinning out research into a business

DTU on desiging university innovation environments

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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.

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Get 15% off Nordic Wasabi with the code NORDICFOODTECH

Why food matters to tourism

Exploring different kinds of agriculture

More episodes on Iceland

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Bård Jervan is a Senior Partner at Mimir. He was deeply involved in writing and developing the new Norwegian national Tourism Strategy for 2030. A cornerstone of the report is centered around food in tourism and how it connects to economic development. It's also a way to preserve culture, protect natural resources, and trace history. Today, we dive into what sustainable tourism is, why the context of a meal matters, the best places to visit in Norway, why seafood is a major opportunity, and the Nordics as a gastronomic destination. 

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More interviews on food & tourism 

Norway’s Tourism Strategy for 2030

Climate change and the development of a Nordic wine region

A foodie roatrip around Iceland by Chef Gunnar Karl Gíslason

Opportunities around Norwegian seaweed

More interviews from Norway

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