April 2012

The newsletter is published monthly by New Nordic Food under the Nordic Council of Ministers. Read more on www.nynordiskmad.org. Follow us on Facebook (Ny Nordisk Mat) and Twitter (NyNordiskMat). 

Nordic Food's conference 2012 NEW NORDIC FOOD: This year's conference will take place in Oslo on the 6 - 7 November. Mark it in your diary now. More information will be available on www.nynordiskmad.org.

Project Manager for ‘Children and Food’ NEW NORDIC FOOD: Harriet Strandvik takes over as the new Project Manager for the Children and Food project. Harriet lives in Mariehamn in Åland and has a degree in Pedagogy and a background as a teacher of Home Economics as well as having a great interest in cooking and food quality. In 2012 she will gather and co-ordinate a Nordic network for children, food and health with up to 80 different initiatives. Organising the NNF conference in Oslo in November is also part of her remit. 

New Nordic Food at the Film Festival in Cannes NEW NORDIC FOOD: When Nordic films are shown at the Cannes festival in France in May, they will be followed by New Nordic Food. Elisabet Skylare, Project Manager for ‘Food & Creative Industries’ under the umbrella of New Nordic Food, is in charge of this collaboration with, amongst others, the Nordic Film & TV Fund and the Nordic film institutes. "In this way Nordic food will be part of the cultural offering", says Elisabet Skylare and goes on to explain that the overall objective is to create networks, document and investigate the whole experience when New Nordic Food takes part in cultural events. The film festival takes place between 16 and 27 May.

Nordic triumph at the Bocuse d’Or Europe NORDIC REGION: Orjan Johannessen from Bekkjarvik Gjestgiveri in Norway was this year's winder of the Bocuse d’Or Europe. Sweden's Adam Dahlberg from Stefan Eriksson Matstudio was the silver medallist, and in third place was Jeppe Foldager from Søllerød Kro in Denmark. In addition, the Special Prize for the Fish Course went to Sigurdur Haraldasson, Iceland. A total of 20 chefs from across Europe took part in the five and a half hour long competition in Brussels. The next Bocuse d’Or (European Championship for Chefs) will take place in Stockholm in 2014.

Special Nordic menu on the Viking Line ferries NORDIC REGION: In May, the Viking Line invites you to enjoy Ålandic chef Michael Björklund's special menu on the route between Sweden and Finland. The former food ambassador for New Nordic Food describes the food as ‘the best in the world’. Nordic ingredients are in fashion and Nordic diet is healthy and a sustainable alternative for us Nordic citizens. The menu offers dishes from Smögen, Skagen, Gotland, Norway, Åland, Ostrobothnia; Ålandic perch, Danish free range pork, Laplandic reindeer and country ham from Pohja will be served.

First food group in the Finnish parliament FINLAND: The first food group has begun its work in the Finnish Parliament. The task is to promote local food in public administration. On the initiative of MP Anne Kalmari (C) the group has started a campaign aimed at municipal policy makers to increase the amount of local ingredients in large kitchens. The food group consists of 22 national professional and policy makers in the food sector, representing the whole food chain. 

Local food 2012 as development work NORWAY: The County Governor in Hordaland and Innovation Norway invite to a broad co-operation on local food in 2012. This local food venture supports new initiatives, gives advice and guidance to everyone, also with regard to co-operation with the public sector, and will also hold local food conferences. Hordaland near Bergen is one of Norway's most important food and tourist areas which is the reason the development of the local food venture is starting here.

Museums working with the food culture of the Øresund Region ØRESUND: On Monday 16 April, Frans Suell och Jørgen Kocks Gymnasium in Malmø was the venue for a workshop for museums across the whole Øresund Region. Through presentations and practical work in the kitchen the museums gained knowledge and inspiration to share the Region's common food culture history. Bi Skaarup and Else-Marie Boyhus have written a compendium about the Øresund Region's food culture, which will form the basis of the museums' work, and local producers will provide the raw materials and help to turn the food experiences into reality for the benefit of the museums' visitors. The workshop is part of a larger project: ‘Discover the Øresund through regional Food Culture’, which works by letting the local food culture, cultural history and terroir come to expression through local products and food experiences.

Projects in New Nordic Food 1 NEW NORDIC FOOD I started in 2007, and the first project period ran from 2007-2009. In this period funding was given to a total of 30 projects in the Nordic Region to develop and improve the concept “New Nordic Food” and increase knowledge about it and find out what it could be used for. In 2012 we will examine what traces the projects have left in the Nordic food culture. This month you can read about Bilberries, healthy, popular, and a logistic challenge In 2008 it was brand new. Interest in New Nordic Food led automatically to increased interest in wild berries, especially the bilberry from Nordic forests. One of the projects in the first period of New Nordic Food was in fact a study of bilberries, entitled ‘Bilberry - Towards functional food markets’. Laura Jaakola from Oulu was one of the Project Managers and she describes the first year of research into the wild berries as a success. Read the whole article on the project and what happened after that www.nynordiskmad.org