Skapa mervärde av mathantverk
Martin Ragnar
Föredrag i samband med Finska mästerskapen i mathantverk Novia, Ekenäs 171005
• R&D man. Axolot Solutions AB
• Researcher: Pulp, Energy, Economical history,
Ethnology, Peace&Conflict etc
• Entrepreneur:
– Initiator of Kålrotsakademien and Swedish Academy of beverages – 25 books
– Frequent author in Gårdsmejeristen, Linderödaren,
Spårstumpen, Svensk Papperstidning, Kemisk Tidskrift
Researcher, Author, Entrepreneur
• Book projects
– Swedish beverages (2018)
– Swedish regional milkbased desserts (2018?) – together with Roland Persson
– Gooseberries (2019?) – together with Jens Linder – A magnificent volume on Swedish cheese (2019?)
– Swedish bread culture (2019?) – together with Jan Hedh
• R&D-project without book ambitions
– Milkhorse breeding and horsemilk processing in Sweden
My current projects
”A pioneering book trying untrod paths”
Håkan Jönsson, research fellow in ethnology at Lund university
A development book
Måltidsakademiens ”Årets kulting” 2015
”combines cultural history and moral debate in a fascinating way”
Per Svensson, Sydsvenskan
”Ragnar’s book really opens breathtaking perspectives”
Gunder Andersson, Dala-Demokraten
”Christmas gift of the year”,
Aase Berg, Dagens Nyheter
A completely new book
Did you know the arctic bramble was scientifically discovered in the 1650’s in Uppsala?
That both Rudbeck d.ä., Rudbeck d.y. and Linneaus were engaged?
That there have been three PhD:s on arctic bramble – one of which in Finland
• Not starve
• To get fat
• Light products
• Meat
• Diet
• Organic/Social
• Food free from X (X=meat, lactose, gluten, …)
– Often equal to food from far away
There was a time when you’d eat to
• When globalisation pushes us towards
increased streamlining standing up for diversity becomes ever more important
– To keep diversity (if everyone starts eating tuna the tuna will finish)
– To decrease the environmental footprint (plants and
animals customed for a certain place grows easier there withoug pesticides and medicins)
– To increase sustainability (food produced close to the customer requires no long transports, provide local jobs and cultural values)
Stand up for diversity
UN convention on biodiversity
• Awareness of biodiversity
• Sustainable production and consumption
• Sustainable fishing
• Invasive forregin species
• Maintain genetical variation within the used diversity
• Traditional knowledge
Some of the 20 international
Aichi goals on biodiversity
• A culinary diversity finding its inspiration in the biodiversity
– To maintain and develop a multifashioned and thereby interesting society attracting both inhabitants and
visitors
– To create recognition and happiness in the elderly care
– To create a sustainable society – And for the pure pleasure
The value of our own diversity
• ”Real things!”: ”One fish, One bread, One big chunk of butter” – Comodities
• ”Eat til you die!”: Volume in focus
• Culturally conservative: ”Köttbullar med potatismos”
• You rarely ask questions like:
– Why potatoes?
– Which potatoe?
– How have you cooked the potatoes?
Husmanskost – culturally
conservative
• ”The best ingredients”: From all the corners of the world
• ”Famous chef”
• ”Fusion”
• ”Japanese kitchen – Finnish ingredients”
• Gastronomy is
– ”Placeless” – and thereby interchangeable – Always hunting for the new
– Building its own brand – not the brand of the region or the nation
Gastronomy – placeless
• The diversity of the Finnish
• FoodCULTURE, i.e. not just ”local produce”
• The honest search for the taste of place
• The truly unique starting from the ingredients and refined products rather than in the dishes
• Could include ”Sweidsh kitchen – Japanese ingredients”
i.e. place-bound culturally extrapolating!
What is lacking?
Diversity and it opposite
(Multi-)national standardisation
• McFeast
(McDonald’s)
• Pitchermeny med läsk (Pizza hut)
• Jensen’s ribs
(Jensens Bøfhus)
Regional diversity
• Kalakukko
• Brödost
• Lapin poron liha
• Ålandspann- kaka med sviskonkräm Internationell
diversity
• Pad Thai
• Lamb tikka sizlar
• Gulasz
• Crème brûlée
• Meatballs with mushed potatoes
• Primary products
– Programmet för odlad mångfald – Rare breed associations
– EU geographical indications – SlowFood Ark of Taste
• Refined produdts, e.g. cheese
– EU geographical indications – SlowFood Ark of Taste
• Dishes
Diversity on different levels
• Puruveden muikku
• Kainuun rönttönen
PDO & PGI
• Kitkan viisas
• Lapin Poron kylmäsavuliha
• Lapin Poron liha
• Lapin Puikula
• Ark of Taste exists to gather knowledge about small-scale products with cultural historic dimensions – fruits, vegetables, breeds, breads, cheeses etc.
• The Ark should also provide knowledge
about the products to ensure their longterm survival
• Cloudberry
• Eastern Finncattle
• Kainuun Rönttönen
• Kalakukko
• Karelian Pastry
• Mesimarja Liquor
• Northern Finncattle
• Sahti
• Traditional Leipäjuusto
• Western Finncattle
Finnish products in Ark of Taste
• Globally 4548 products
– Italy 790 – France 289 – Spain 174
– USA 339
– Netherlands 76
– Papua New Guinea 0
Where do the products origin?
(Numbers from October 2017)
• Nordic countries 113 /Scandinavia 83
– Sweden 39 – Norway 23 – Denmark 21 – Iceland 19 – Finland 10
– Faroe islands 1 – Greenland 0 – Åland islands 0 – Albania 43
Is Finland, the Nordic countries and Papua New Guinea examples of cultureless areas – a global
reference to Kjell A. Nordström’s ”scrap areas”?
Time to move?
Could it be much tastier than this?
No, probably not!
Could it be much more Swedish than this?
Yes, indeed!
• The cow was domesticated in the Middle East, so both meat and milk from cow has its origin there
• Potatoes comes from South America
• Pepper comes from Southeast Asia – and allspice from South America
• Sallad is a Roman invention about salting leaves
• Sugar to the jam comes from Southeast Asia
• REMAINS: Lingonberries!
Because…
The absolute Swedish
Swedish just as well as e.g. Finnish
WILD
DOMESTICATED AND GROWING WILD IN FINLAND
From which country comes
Carpaccio con Parmigiano?
• Neither the cow, the tomatoes nor the cheese has its origin in Italy – or in Spain or France!
• We have just began to relate the dish with Italy – probably largely because it has been given an Italian name that has not been translated
• …and the wine comes from Georgia – period!
But…
Obviously we could make things
taste from a place without using only products with a biological origin from
there
• In the wine business it is easy:
– Appelation: For a certain region typical choice of grape variety and the processing procedures
– Terroir: The finetuned variations because of local climate, soil type, mineral composition etc.
• T.ex. Appelationen Rhône with terroir from a sundried slope of the South
• ”Terroir is a strictly scientific property that in principle could be registered by an airplane”
Terroir – The taste of place
Rye
• The landrace is higher and has deeper roots
– The hight means that chemical pest control is less urgent
– The deeper roots means that the landrace extacts more minerals from the soil
– The flavour therefore becomes different compoared to modern ryes
• This way you could understand the landrace as a kind of terroir amplifier
Landrace vs modern cultivar
Pigs giving porc
• The landrace is kept outside since it would not feel well inside small boxes
– It roots in the soil and eats what nature provides and manure the ground at the same time
– The porc gets flavoured by the feed at the place – unlike the case for modern breeds fed with largely imported feed
• This way you could understand the landrace as a kind of terroir amplifier
Landrace vs modern breed
• At a certain field a certain crop proved particularly suitable to grow
– Certain plants of this crop showed properties better than others. These were selected and further grown – ”Better” contains more tasty/higher yield/better
resistance-resilience etc.
• The terroir affected the choice of crop in general and over time the cultivar selection
• Landraces hence are not only terroir amplifiers – but formed by terroir
Development of cultivars and
breeds
• The flavour of a food product is affected by teroir through minerals, light etc.
• The terroir also affects crops and animals so that cultivars and breeds develop over time
• Also man is affected by terroir
Bidirectional effect
• Terroir hence is not strictly
scientific but also hosts a cultural component
• The strict division of the world by the connoisseur becomes less important – terroir becomes
diversity – the taste of place!
The winemake is also terroir!
• I usually prefer to use the term regional food culture – the expression of diversity formed by the place
The soil forms
diversity
• Biological origin OR Regional adaptation
– Rutabaga, Swedish whitebeam berry, Angelica, all- fieldberry
– Landrace breeds and cultivars (FI: maatiainen)
• The composition of the soil
– Also affects conventional breeds and cultivars
• Cultural relation
– Landskapsfiskar, -äpplen m.m.
– Traditionally used methods and recipes, e.g. rye bread, storage in a cave
– Traditionally used forms, e.g. kalakukko, karjalaan pierakki
Terroir – The taste of place (I)
Regionallly adapted
Väneko Melonäpple
Gestrikefår
Bohuslän-Dals svarthöna
Vårspelt Gotland
Pride of our storage heritage
• Language
– Carpaccio, Camembert, Champagne – Gravlax, Kalix löjrom, Prästost
– NEITHER: ”cured salmon”, ”bleak roe from Kalix”,
”matured Swedish hard cheese” – NOR ”sparkling French white wine from the Champagne district”
• Dialect
– Röikt butte mei matroekas (instead of ’Rökt piggvar med rotmos’)
– The dialect is a spice and causes questions and thereby curiosity!
• Clothing and music!
Terroir – The taste of place (II)
Cutting scheme OX
Cutting scheme RUTABAGA
• Different cultivars
• Different storage times
• Cuts incl. leaves and oil seeds
• Time of harvest – harvest in June as a radish, medium-sized or big boy
• The soil composition
• The preparation – raw, boiled, steamed, baked, fried, puré, flamed
• Chips, flour – and…
The inherent diversity
– of a rutabaga!
Tastings…
Rutabaga Sprat
Tap water /Milk
Rye bread /Limpa
Goat
Pork dripping
Diversity is everywhere in the gas- tronomic adventure of our lives
Arctic bramble Oysters Red wine /Whisky Levain /Crackers Wagyu /Rare breed cow Deer saddle
• Of course it is both relevant and nice to taste exclusive wines and oysters
– But noone drinks or eats this on a daily basis
• Accordingly it is much more exciting and
relevant to investigate what matters to more people in their daily lives!
Exploring what matters to us in
daily life!
Be curious on the small
variations!
• Overall Swedish (7 st)
– Måltidsakademien – Skolmatsakademin
– Svenska Dryckesakademien
• Geographically limited (7 st)
– Hagdahlsakademien
– Skåneländska Gastronomiska Akademien
• Thematically limited (32 st)
– Baljväxtakademin
– Sällskapet Hackkorvens vänner
The crusaders of diversity!
Beautifully pale rose colour and a distinct flavour of pepper, herbal scent of red berries, lime, aromatic citrus and salmiak. Hardly middle- bodied with a very refreshing flavourfull, citrus, bloodorange, lime, red berries, salmiak minerality
and a long, very fresh and somewhat strict
afterflavour of red berries and citrys. Elegant, with a personal touch of southern France and faaar
away from sweets and softdrinks.
Anders Öhman, sommelier and educator
The taste of a wine…
• But also a sommelier is claimed to have
problems to
distinguish between red and white wine
• The cultural
dimension of taste is very important
Sensory
is the science of the taste buds
• Where is the taste?
– Of course in the taste sense!
• But I would say also in the
– Sense of smell – Visual sense – Tactile sense – Hearing sense
• Därför räcker det inte med att det smakar gott – vi kan få det att smaka så mycket godare genom att tala till fler sinnen!
”Most important is that it tastes
good”
Darling, I thought we’d have it cosy tonight…
– I have prepared cream with gelatine!
• Mild ost
• Mager ost
• Ekologisk ost
• Stark ost
• ”Gravlax”
• ”Swedish pannacotta”
• ”Plate of charcuteries from Swedish farms with goat’s cheese, capres, artichokes &
pickled tomatoes”
What are we most proad to show
for our forreign guest?
• DESCRIPTIVE:
– ’Lax som sockersaltats och lagts i kylskåp i några dygn, smaksatt med dill serverad med potatis som blandats med smör, mjöl och mjölk’
• (SWEDISH) CULTURE:
– ’Gravlax med stuvad potatis’
• (WE DO NOTA HAVE ANY OWN) CULTURE:
– ’Cured salmon served with potatoe stew’
Three different ways
of presenting a dish
• DESCRIPTIVE:
– ’Cream with gelatine that has curdled served in a glass’
• (ITALIAN) CULTURE:
– ’Pannacotta’
• (WE DO NOT HAVE ANY OWN) CULTURE:
– ’Finnish Pannacotta’
Three different ways
of presenting a dish
• Developing names for cuts, preparation techniques, refined products etc is very important
• Developing products and names together with others build CULTURE!
• Using the dialect as a spice could also make the own country a little more exciting
The language is vital!
We make Finland Proper’s best Camembert!
…and here we make Bordeaux’s
very best kalakukko…
Culture builds pride!
• Identity
– Builds pride
– Could awaken memories when you get reminded, perhaps of particular importance in elderly care
• Pride
– To create pride over the place you live at is important wherever you come from, since then you could also be a cultural carrier who tells your story to people living somewhere else
• Diversity
– Curiosity on other places where things are not identical – outside the borders, but equally obvious also inside the borders
The food as a carrier of culture
• Be curious on the diversity in general and on the diversity of common things in general
• Form academias, use them and work with them
• Nominate to SlowFood’s Ark of Taste
• Build culture together with others as a chef or as a producer
• Develop the language!
What YOU could do
• What do you get if you drain Savoiardi
biscuits in espresso blended with Marsala wine and pour a mix of eggs, sugar and
Mascarpone cheese on top and garnish with cacao?
• What do you get if you drain Finn crips in blueberry juice blended with Koskenkorva and pour a mix of Finnish landrace hen’s eggs, sugar and Aura cheese on top and garnish with powdered mesimarja?
• It is easy to culturally export
– Hamburgers, gravlax, panacotta, tiramisu, Champagne
• It is almost impossible to export
– ’Lax som sockersaltats och lagts i kylskåp i några dygn, smaksatt med dill serverad med potatis som blandats med smör, mjöl och mjölk’
– ’Cream with gelatine that has curdled served in a glass’
That is why you could buy
Savoiardi biscuits in Salla
Thank you for your attention!
Martin Ragnar – martin@sockerslottet.se
