Viking Magazine - September 2015 - 38

Q&A
Kitchen Confi dential
Chef and author Trine Hahnemann dishes on her love of food
and the Nordic diet. BY SARA SCHLUETER
G
rowing up in a family
where food was central
to her Scandinavian
heritage, Trine Hahnemann is
passionate about healthy eating
and organic ingredients. She
started baking for her family at
the age of 8, and since then she's
become one of Scandinavia's
most prominent chefs and food
writers. Early in her culinary
career, Hahnemann ran a
catering company that served
rock stars on tour, such as Elton
John and the Rolling Stones.
Today, she runs her company,
Hahnemann's Kitchen, and
teaches cooking classes. Viking
caught up with Hahnemann to
talk about her career and the
Nordic diet.
Q What draws you to
Scandinavian food?
A It's my heritage, and I fi nd
it really fascinating to share it
with the world. I believe food
plays a very central role in both
our lives and in history.
Q When did you develop a
love for cooking and baking?
A As a child, I loved meal
times and being around my
mormor (grandmother), morfar
(grandfather) and my parents
in the kitchen. When I was
eight years old, I started baking
because I really thought it was
fun! Actually, I can't remember
not being able to cook. When
I was a teenager, I was at
boarding school for a year and
cooked lunch for 100 people
38 VIKING SEPTEMBER 2015
each day. I have grown up in a
culture where food matters. In
my family, life revolves around
food, so it was natural that I
became a chef. My sister is a
chef as well.
Q What is one of your
favorite Nordic dishes
to prepare?
A It changes all the time and
depends on the season! I like
root vegetable fry-up in the
autumn, Ris a la mande with
cherry sauce for Christmas,
rhubarb cake in the spring
and roasted chicken with new
Danish potatoes, shaken red
currants and cucumber salad in
vinegar-brine in the summer.
Q Hahnemann's Kitchen
in Denmark thrives
on producing food for
customers made from
scratch. Why is this particular
value so important to you?
A My company specializes in
cooking for in-house company
canteens where everything
is cooked homemade-style.
This means everything is
fresh, including salads and
main courses. Breads are
freshly baked with our own
sourdoughs. Our guests get a
home-cooked meal for lunch
everyday that is made with
at least 50 percent organic
ingredients. I believe you are
what you eat, so food is the
center of your life. Industrialmade
food with too many
additives, fat, sugar and salt
sonsofnorway.com
comes with so many unwanted
consequences. A healthy lunch
like we cook gives people a
better quality of life.
Q Why do you think the
Nordic diet is so popular?
A I think people now know
and understand that it is a
long-lasting lifestyle diet, and
it is about real and tasty food.
People are beginning to realize
that all these crazy diets do not
work; it's the long term change
that makes you healthy and
feeling good on a daily basis.
Q What do you think is the
importance of preparing
dishes or food from a culture
different than your own?
A I think being curious is
important; we all eat and food
is part of everybody's life,
therefore it's perfect to exchange
food culture.
Books by
Trine
Hahnemann
" Peralta "
" Scandinavian
Baking "
" Scandinavian
Christmas "
" The Nordic Diet "
Check out trinehahnemann.com for Scandinavian recipes, and read
more from the interview on Sept. 15 at sonsofnorway.com/blog.
PHOTO BY LARS RANEK, BOOK COVER PHOTO BY ARRANGEMENT WITH QUADRILLE PUBLISHING, DISTRIBUTED BY CHRONICLE BOOKS, COPYRIGHT © 2015 BY TRINE HAHNEMANN, COLUMBUS LETH.

http://www.trinehahnemann.com http://www.sonsofnorway.com http://www.sonsofnorway.com/blog

Viking Magazine - September 2015

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