Words by Olivia Lennox

The third and final in the online series hosted by Mad about Denmark in collaboration with the Danish Agriculture & Food Council was held on the 20th of April. Andrea Petrini once again graces our screens as creator and moderator, with a familiar René Redzepi and new panellists Emilie Qvist and Nicolai Nørregaard.

Introduced with enthusiasm is Emilie Qvist, alumni of the MAD Academy and Dan Barber’s Blue Hill. The chef is breaking into the business world with an exciting announcement… Dubbed as the ‘middle of nowhere’, Hanstholm with a population of approximately 2000 is soon to be the home of Medvind, Emilie Qvist’s first restaurant. Along with partner Emma Milne she is designing a space that will serve seafood straight from the nearby harbour, with emphasis on freshness.

Concept would seem derogatory at this point, simply because it seems so much more holistic than the word would suggest, and Qvist is making sure that the idea co-evolves with the wants of the locals. Interestingly their plan is to be sustainable incognito, a refreshing change to the loudly greenwashed restaurant culture of the last few of years. It also makes sense as a business move, with a lot of organic certification standing as a marker for exclusivity.  It is not to refute the charm that Copenhagen holds, but Qvist notes that for her it makes more sense to go to the produce rather than to bring it away from the source.

René Redzepi proclaims that to him, “Emilie represents the future,” a future that for him that lies in the authenticity of philosophy. This is what guides his ingredient choice – it may be obvious, but nothing stumbles accidentally onto the Noma menu, as is evident by their notorious reputation for sourcing sustainable produce, with a small team dedicated to the research. He says ingredients are not separable by certification or labelling, but united by an authentic attitude. Redzepi next entrusts vulnerable admittance that the second lockdown has been mentally a lot harder for him than the first, stating he had “bad weeks where I couldn’t recognise myself.” As a way of pacing through the time, Noma ran their full winter menu, the team creating between themselves a series of dishes that will never see the light of service but that aided them mentally through the trying season. He follows with a sprightly announcement of the spring menu coaxed by a jovial Petrini, revealing he will be serving a pescatarian menu designed to emulate the Noma group’s experience of the last few months – from their team hiking weekends to ice swimming – all squeezed into 16 bites. And who are the first to try the long awaited return on the 1st of June? One hundred Pandemic Heroes nominated by the public invited to dine at Noma in appreciation for their tireless good work. Some of the recommendations when read brought tears to the eyes of the staff, serving a grounding reminder that social sustainability must always be part of the equation.

Nicolai Nørregaard agrees, expressing concern that for a lot of consumers there is not a straight forward solution to sustainable eating and living. As the co-founder of Kadeau in Bornholm (and its Copenhagen sister restaurant of the same name), Nørregaard is a chef who begins his day alongside his team in their market garden. He channels the power of sourcing in a way that emulates an ethos of responsibility to the planet and the people, and the menus he designs are based emphatically on local ingredients, be that from nearby producers or the wild forage that Bornholm offers. His desire to take care of the climate is advocated for by the sake of flavour and freshness. But even for him the simple act of buying cucumbers for his daughter introduces a political conversation, particularly with the disparity of price between certified organic and not.

And it isn’t only in the controversial subject of certification. Sustainable fishing is a topic gaining increasing traction in recent months (aided in part by the popularisation of Netfilx’s Seaspiracy), and one which the panel agree deserves the same consideration. As chef’s all presenting seafood menus, the three emulate that is it their responsibility to source responsibly – to know the fishing methods, the boats, the producers who live and breathe care for their produce.

And this is what will continue to set apart these restaurants and chefs from those who use sustainability as a buzzword. It isn’t about how much certified produce you can cram into a menu or if you display a green clover on your door, it is about honouring an inherent philosophy, practiced and realised by meeting producers and hearing their stories. Redzepi cites Jonathan Safran Foer’s We Are the Weather, that to change the planet we need to change our diets. Thankfully these chefs will continue to lead the way with the conversation that facilitate it. A gratitude goes out to Mad about Denmark, the Danish Agriculture & Food Council, the panellists,  and Andrea Petrini for creating the space for such discussions to happen, and the hope is that a second series will present itself to us soon: we cannot afford the luxury of not continuing to question and learn.

Words by Olivia Lennox

Images provided by Holy Cannoli, photography by Simon Schilling / Crossed Lines Media

Somewhere between folklore and history lies the rumour that cannoli first came into realisation around 1000AD, evolving into not only a Sicilian staple but a gastronomic symbol of national pride. Fast forward a millennium, and some 9000km away, a duo has cooked up a concept. Born from at home cravings during lockdown, Holy Cannoli came into fruition as a business at the end of 2020.

Ask someone to name the most famous Italian desserts, and in the brief list most likely comprising also of tiramisu and panna cotta, cannoli will surely get a mention. Yet before now, Hong Kong was yet to be introduced to the Italian delicacy, at least on this scale, and so the team behind the concept decided to respond to the pastry-shaped gap in the market. Where strong culinary customs reign supreme in Italy, Hong Kong is open to the experiment and innovation of talents new… Now introduced here is the marriage of tradition and inspiration.

The holy trinity consists of Marco Antonio Li Voti, Anna Zhou and their rescue dog (aptly named Cannoli). Unafraid of breaking boundaries, they thrive off the challenge of educating through flavour and experimentation. As with most great ideas, it embodies simplicity in concept and excellence in realisation.

Their classic range comprises of Nonna’s Originale, Dark Yuzu, Rose & Raspberry, White Chocolate Pistachio, Salted Caramel and Pistachio Bacio. If that wasn’t enough, with a preemptive apology to Nonna, they run through some collaborations, past, present and future – which range from cocktail flavours with Quinary Hong Kong, Shady Acres, and 001, to surprise menus airing on the side of savoury.

Their channel of communication is the simple cannolo. They offer them pre-made, the locations at which are discoverable on their interactive map (the Holy Cannoli pilgrimage). DIY kits are also available, allowing customers to make them at home while getting creative with fillings and toppings. For now a lot of their return customers discover them at their pop-ups, and if their success is measured in something other than numerical value, let it be by anecdote – one customer after tasting a cannolo, ordered forty more on the spot to be served the next day at an outdoor event. Knowing that once you try a bite of Holy’s cannoli it becomes hard to stop, the team always make sure to include more of the filling than is necessary – the initial taste test is of course of utmost importance, and when the filling is as well made as this one there is (almost) no judgement for going straight from nozzle to mouth.

With something so simple, there is much room for error and nowhere to hide. But even as a young chef, Marco has years of experience behind him having worked in esteemed restaurants across Italy, Germany, USA, the UK and Hong Kong. He sites one of the main inspirations in his career as working briefly with Lorenzo Cogo of El Coq, a chef unafraid of pushing boundaries within cuisine. With cannoli it is a fine line to tread but one he has managed to with expertise, striking the perfect balance between traditionalism and experimentation. But the recipe development is thorough and exact, with an average time frame of a month to launch a new flavour. The brilliant irony is that Marco doesn’t have a sweet tooth, and so the cannoli need to be perfect if he is going to be content with the outcome.

The other charming irony is that Anna – with a wealth of global business and hospitality experience – dislikes typical marketing strategy, and that is most likely why she is so good at it. As her own toughest critic, their visuals exude the ethos perfectly. Business – but make it fun. They thoroughly champion collaboration, and Anna emphasises that they believe in community and elevating other businesses as well as their own. They are also determined to involve customers in their growth, running competitions to design the best new flavour and showcasing videos of customers’ “first bite” in pride of place on their Instagram highlights. 

This ‘little tube’ is creating a bridge across cultures, as a gratuitous homage to Italy’s culinary heritage and Hong Kong’s open-mindedness. Marco dreams of a return to Italy when travel allows, and a pop-up in Sicily to present their hard work to the toughest judges – the locals. There may be wry concern that the small yet mighty team will be met with a reenactment of The Godfather but having had a taste of what Holy Cannoli has to offer, the Sicilians would no doubt, “take the cannoli”.

Words by Olivia Lennox

The second in the online series hosted by Mad about Denmark in collaboration with the Danish Agriculture & Food Council was held on the 30th of March. Andrea Petrini acts once again as moderator and is joined this time by Kamilla Seidler Trebbien and Christian F. Puglisi, as well as repeat panellist René Redzepi.

The opening sentiment from an ever dapper Petrini is that sustainability as a term needs a “beyond”, a consideration as to what it means and how it can evolve. This also comes with addressing the meaning of ‘sustainability’, a polluted terminology at this point given that there are no formal boundaries to uphold a standard within the word.

Kamilla Seidler Trebbien when addressing the quest for sustainability opens with the consideration that “Sustainability means very different things to very different people depending on where you are in the planet. ”This is a chef who has worked previously in a somewhat divergent context as head chef of Gustu in Bolivia, before returning to Copenhagen and opening Lola in 2019. The comparisons she draws are that, even in Denmark which is recognised to be at the forefront of environmental sustainability, there are a lot of social aspects that need to be included if we are to talk about a true sustainability. Trebbien references the programme she now runs through her restaurant called Lola Impact, an initiative to provide employment to those struggling to find work. Her point rings loud with validity, that this should be part of normal practice, not an exception; as industry leaders and as people, social sustainability should be of equal importance.

René Redzepi agrees fully with this sentiment, matching that while Noma has been going for eighteen years, it is only in the last couple that they have been able to achieve something closer to an inclusive sustainability in terms of the social and personal aspects of the business. He reinforces his message from the previous talk of last month, that if food is cheap, someone or something is paying the price. The chef revisits a conversation with Petrini that they had some ten years ago, that when asked about the future of food, his answer was then and continues to be now that food needs to be more expensive – the way we value food is simply too cheap both in practice and attitude. Redzepi claims that if there is a case to be won in fair prices for produce, it needs to appeal through hedonistic means – deliciousness is necessary if sustainability is to convince anyone, and the “to infinity and beyond” power needs to come from the chefs’ culinary talents.

Under the consideration of the sustainable future of fine dining, Redzepi firmly announces his belief that the pandemic is not going to bring around an ecological revolution. He is assured through faith that a change – an improvement – is coming, but not as a response to the pandemic. Some earnest hope come from the chef in the certainty that “once humanity has tried everything else, we’re finally going to do the right thing”.

With a much more stoic attitude, Christian F. Puglisi sees social evolution as a tell that humans continuously make the wrong decisions in terms of environmentalism. He shares that this obsession with technological advancement providing the solution is teeming with useless hope. Addressing the increase in meal delivery services which is made possible through streamlined technological platforms, only emphasises how people need to get into the kitchen and not further detached from it. The chef is a firm advocate for getting close to the source of making as the tool for communication, and this is exactly what he did with the launching of his Farm of Ideas in 2016. The intention in its dawn was to hold responsibility for some expansion of biodiversity, but as noted by the esteemed Puglisi, it’s very hard to translate it into a business:“I can say after 5 years, I looked in, it was really scary,”admitting now through gesture that the weighted door is getting heavier and heavier to keep open, or maybe even to want to. Puglisi found that the solution to finding his own personal sustainability was to close two of his famed Copenhagen restaurants – Relæ and Manfreds –  in 2020, a decision he has recently credited as his biggest achievement.

The panel conclusively delve into the idea that a lot of the issues lie in legislation, and that sometimes the hardest thing about sustainable choices is that they can impose financial costs. Many potential solutions are put down out of fear of something going wrong – a problem which doesn’t allow for the poetic potential of human trial and error. This is the difficulty of operating in a world that shows itself being extremely intricate and extremely political. The three agree that what lies beyond sustainability is responsibility, that as industry leaders and business owners they also have to be, and are expected to be, policy makers. Detachment from food and people will not repair a broken system.