When you think of street food, food trucks immediately come to mind. These ubiquitous four-wheeled caravans epitomise our street food culture and are a mainstay of local festivals, food events and farmers markets. Yet, there is a new kid in town — the food bike. Ultra-local, shining with green credentials, and the perfect start-up, these two-wheelers are redefining street food as we know it with their take on food-to-go. What’s the appeal of the bike for city dwellers and food entrepreneurs?

When it came to launching her gourmet sandwich business in 2010, Tifamade’s Tiffany Iung wanted to combine her love of biking with her love of feeding people. Tifamade’s menu of hand-made sandwiches, including gluten-free and vegan options, changes daily. She sources ingredients from her local farmer’s market, and delivers to customers on her pink push bike.

Like Tifamade, many food bike owners are self-described bike enthusiasts. Take Rie Sawada for example. She has travelled the world, serving her hand-brewed coffee and handmade sweets from her bike and mobile business, CharRie’s Café (Chari means bike in colloquial Japanese). In April 2014, she concluded her European coffee bike tour that took her from Keirin Cycle Culture Café in Berlin back to her home town of Nagoya, Japan via Portugal, Nice, and Santa Cruz.

Keeping business local is the lifeblood of most food bikes, many of whom limit their delivery circuit to their own neighbourhoods.

Another famed example is New York City’s MilkMade Ice Cream. This well-established subscription-based company makes small batch, craft ice cream from locally sourced and sustainable ingredients. Every month MilkMade Ice Cream’s ‘milkmaids’ take to their bikes to deliver ice cream to subscribers in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Delivery times are agreed upon in advance and are set for a three-hour time slot.  (Deliveries are packaged with dry ice to keep their ‘scream cold.) MilkMade Ice Cream even has an online community that posts about their favourite flavours such as Pop Tarts, Key Lime Pie, Salted Watermelon, and Spiced Apple Cider Donut.

Owing to their limited size and manpower, coffee, ice creams and prepared artisanal foods are the staple of most food bikes. Yet such drawbacks have inspired rather than deterred vendors to create new food concepts.

Case in point is The Travelling Gin Company. Ed Godden and Joe Lewis’s pop-up drinks project serves classic gin and tonics and other cocktails from bike bars at festivals, shop launches, events and even weddings. So dedicated is TGC to the great British institution of the G&T, Ed and Joe have partnered with Ebeltoft Farm Brewery to create their own colonial tonic.

Another attractive feature of the food bike is its affordability. With a small amount of cash and a lot of enthusiasm a business idea can be quickly turned into pedal-powered enterprise. Food Bikery agrees. This UC Berkeley’s Big Ideas project is lobbying for food bike vendors to be able cook at public markets to encourage this two-wheeled business option. This is currently not possible due to codes for mobile food facilities.

While it is easy to envisage such a bike-fueled menu, it’s important that the original appeal of the bike doesn’t get lost — its green credentials.

Lyndon Fenlon of Urban Honey Co. delivers his very local honey by rickshaw (a unique take on the food bike) from his hives across inner city Melbourne. All Lyndon’s honey is sold within five kilometers of its point of production and his rickshaw reflects his broader commitment to a community-focused and sustainable business. Craved holds a similar philosophy delivering its London-based small batch food and drink orders across the city on brightly coloured cargo bikes in partnership with shutl.

Photo Sources: milkmade ice cream, Tifamade, Urban Honey Co

So look out for your local food bike — stop and say hello, sample some great food and drink, even become a subscriber. If you can’t find one, maybe start your own.

The post I want to ride my bicycle — Food bikes appeared first on Countlan Magazine.

In the design world, it is one thing to have carte blanche to define, communicate and evolve your works. For Nadia Lassen, director and owner of by Lassen in Copenhagen, her job comes with a different set of responsibilities and challenges: to carry forward the design legacy left by her great-grandfather and his brother (her great-grand-uncle), Mogens and Flemming Lassen.

Mogens Lassen (1901-1987) and Flemming Lassen (1902-1984) were famous Danish architects who were part of the modernist architecture movement. During the era in which the brothers designed buildings, it was not uncommon to also have a hand in their interior design. This led to the creation of chairs, tables, kitchens and accessories all in sync with their respective exteriors, leaving behind a legacy of iconic products. One such product is Mogen Lassen’s Kubus candlestick, launched in 1962.

“I am proud to carry forth the legacy of my great-grandfather and great-grand-uncle and I am sure that they would both appreciate by Lassen today,” says Nadia. “For this reason, I would never make the Kubus candelabra in pink. We try to be as authentic and true to their designs as possible.” Branded with a logo that pays homage to the city in which the company resides, the by Lassen line that Nadia oversees stays true to its roots and reflects a Nordic design aesthetic that is simple on the surface. Yet, there is nothing simple about their products. “No detail has been left to chance. Because Mogens and Flemming were architects and keen on designing great products that would last for generations, they were detail-oriented – something we respect.”

It usually takes Nadia and her team 12 to 18 months to launch a new product when working from existing designs. “We have a designer who looks through all the old sketches before we choose which design we would like to pursue,” says Lassen. So far the company has focused more on Mogens’ products, including his ML42 stool, Frame box, Kubus candelabras and bowls and his ML33 chair.

This year saw the launch of Flemming Lassen’s Mingle sofa, with plans to produce more designs from Nadia’s great-grand-uncle. In keeping with tradition, the products are made of steel and European wood. She is keen to keep production local, which is why the entire Kubus collection is still produced in Denmark.

Photo Source: By Lassen

The post Family of Design appeared first on Countlan Magazine.

When over half the geography of a country is boreal forest, like it is in Estonia, one might expect wood to feature prominently in design. For Tallinn based designer-craftsman, Karl Taul, he set up a small workshop in the city and transformed his woodworking hobby into a profession. “The aesthetics of my work is grounded in the old Estonian peasant way of life, a style which is known for its simplicity, even naivety, but also playfulness” says Taul.

He remains flexible with his designs and letting the wood guide the end product, which he sells online at his shop, Malin.  Karl’s preference is to work with local reclaimed wood (spruce and pine are common) and only uses oak, a tree with a sacred status in Estonia, for his cutting boards and salad forks.

“Despite the fact that oak would be the best wood to use in certain pieces, cutting down oak trees to make furniture does not feel right. Oak has a mythical status in Estonia. The trees are believed to be wise creatures and thus should be treated with respect.”

INTERVIEW: Karl Taul, Owner/Designer/Woodworker, Malin {Tallinn}

01 Where are you based? 

I’m from a tiny European country called Estonia. The workshop is based in it’s capital – Tallinn. As Estonia is very rich in forest, woodcraft has always been a natural way of life here.

02 How did you get into woodworking and design in the first place?

I’ve been making wooden items for all kinds of needs since I was little. A couple of years ago I realised I wanted to make a living of it and enjoy the creative side of mine.

03 Can you describe the process involved with creating a new board? 

 Creating new cutting boards starts with sketching different designs on paper, just to see which shape has a good vibe and which doesn’t. I then choose the wood. I don’t stick 100% to the original plan but try to find a nice balance between the design and the specific piece of wood. It’s a very cognitive process. Sometimes I have an interesting piece of wood first and design something according to it. I finish the boards with sanding and a coat of bees-wax.

 04 Why did you choose to design tableware and furniture? 

These are things that make up the space we live in. I like people to live in more natural environments than just perfectly shaped boxes. These square environments signal your brain to be perfect. I think it’s OK not to be perfect.

 05 What type of wood do you typically work with?  

I try to use as much reclaimed wood as possible. The most common trees in Estonia are conifers, such as pine and spruce. There is a lot of birch too. We have oak, which would be the best to use, but oak has a somewhat  mythical status in Estonia. Oak trees are believed to be wise creatures and thus should be treated with respect. Cutting down oak trees for furniture does not feel right. Yet, I do use oak for cutting boards and salad forks. I recently came across a big parquet factory, where they otherwise  would just  throw their “leftovers” into the furnace.

 06 What is next for your company?

At the moment I’m further educating myself, both technically and business-wise. My studies take up a lot of time, but I’m working on some new designs. But more precisely, a new set of stools will be next.

07 How many people are on the Malin team?

At the moment it’s only me.

08 Do you ship internationally? 

Malin has a webshop. As I only have two hands, all orders have to be arranged at malin.workshop@gmail.com. International shipping is available.

 09 Do you entertain at home?

We do. Having people over is closely tied to the weather. In winter, when the temperature is -10 C  for months on end,  people enjoy the warmth of homes, friends and a hearty meal like  meat, potatoes, bread, and blood pudding with lingon berries. In summer, everyone stays outdoors as much as possible. Barbecue and potato salad is a must. Easy-going way of laying the table. That`s where cutting boards of all sorts and shapes come handy for serving the food – salads, meat, cheese, bread…. Here in Estonia we say that bread is the “food” and everything else is just a side dish. To go back to what inspires me in design, I guess it’s the Estonian summers. I want my products to carry that lightness of being throughout the whole year.

 10 Are there any unique/special cultural traditions related to inviting family or friends to your house in Tallinn that you can share with us?

Eating together unites, as it does everywhere else I suppose. Food wise, if the Italians boast with pasta, Estonians have potato salad. Everyone thinks their family makes the best. Potato salad is a part of any traditional party, birthday, wedding, funeral or Christmas. And you can’t have a meal without some black bread on the table. Otherwise having people over is rather relaxed. There are no rules to how a table should be covered or what the menu should consist of. Lots of bowls of food passed around and everyone choose whatever they like to eat.

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I have an incurable case of wanderlust. I love nothing more than exploring new places, but no matter how far I travel, I can’t imagine calling anywhere but Melbourne home. With its melting pot of different cultures, everyone has their favourite suburb. For me, the Fitzroy-Collingwood area, an area less traveled by visitors, is the suburb that has my heart.

Fitzroy is not just a collection of geographic boundaries. Rather, it reflects a state of mind and a way of life. The area’s carefree vibe, trendy bars, restaurants and endless second hand and vintage shops attract like-minded residents and locals to the neighbourhood.

Photo Source: Jess Carey

A few hidden treasures around Fitzroy that may have escaped your radar include:

• Rose Street Artists’ Market (60 Rose St, Fitzroy) This open-air market has become a Fitzroy institution. Tucked down a little side street off the popular Brunswick Street, the market, which takes place every Saturday and Sunday, showcases the work and wares of local up-and-coming artists and designers. Save for the A-frame sign staffed by an eccentric, bearded, leather clad man yelling out to passers-by, the market is not advertised; Rose Street Artists’ Market is the place to acquire delicate jewelry, quirky works of art or hand-crafted flatware.
• Caz Reitop’s Dirty Secrets (80 Smith St, Collingwood) An inconspicuous little bar full of dark corners Caz Reitop’s Dirty Secrets has an old-world speakeasy feel with its flickering candles and magnificent cocktails. On a cold winter night, this spot is the perfect place to snag a booth and catch up with friends.
• Books for Cooks (233 Gertrude St, Fitzroy) Serious food lovers own Books for Cooks, an independent bookshop in Fitzroy. Its old wooden floorboards creak as customers walk from shelf to shelf while browsing its 30,000+ titles on foreign language cookbooks and books on international cuisine, to food science and everything in between.
• Memorabilia on Smith (269 Smith St, Fitzroy) Overflowing with fascinating trinkets from yesteryear, Memorabilia on Smith is rather unique and slightly chaotic vintage shop in the neighbourhood. While AFL (Australian Rules Football) memorabilia tends to dominate the stock, one can also find old Arnott’s biscuit tins, glass Coke bottles, vintage train signs and Pez dispensers. Be sure to dig around to find a keepsake in your price range.
• Los Amates Mexican Kitchen (34 Johnston St, Fitzroy) Los Amates is one of the few places where you can find genuine Mexican food in the city. The restaurant’s exterior is not much to look at, which means it often gets passed by, but Los Amates has established a cult following with locals who know its whereabouts. Its vibrantly painted walls are lined with carvings, paintings and other paraphernalia from Mexico giving the space an exotic yet homely feel at the same time.
• Street Art First time visitors to Fitzroy rarely stray from the neighbourhood’s main arteries of Brunswick, Smith or Gertrude Street. Hidden gems like Fitzroy’s street art are bound to be missed.  If you look off the beaten path, the area is filled with wall murals, tiny sticker art and political pieces which are worth the look.
• Grub Street Bookshop (1/379 Brunswick St, Fitzroy) Every time I’m in Fitzroy I stop in and visit Grub Street Bookshop. The shop specializes in second hand books and it’s rare that I leave empty handed. Here, you’ll find, old travel books, vintage cookbooks and rare first editions.
• Aunt Maggie’s (188 Gertrude St, Fitzroy) Aunt Maggie’s is a grocery store that stocks quality produce and ingredients for every dietary regime under the sun. With five locations in Melbourne, the store offers a variety of pantry staples and endless options for fresh food. Also well worth the visit is its delicious dine-in café and personalized customer service.
• in.cube8r gallery (321 Smith St, Fitzroy) This gallery may be small in size, but it makes up for its size in talent! The space is divided into partitions and glass cubes and enables Australian artists to showcase their work and handmade goods. The gallery passes 100% of sales back to the artist, so customers feel great about purchasing artwork, jewelry and accessories from this space.
• Vegie Bar (380 Brunswick St, Fitzroy) Vegie Bar isn’t a hidden treasure – it’s a Fitzroy stalwart. For 20 years, Vegie Bar has been serving internationally inspired meat-free dishes, long before vegetarianism was “cool” and “clean eating” took over. Line ups out the door are not an uncommon sight at this elbow-to-elbow, communal eating, lively place.

The post Hidden Gems of Fitzroy appeared first on Countlan Magazine.

In Maniago, Italy’s center for steel blades, knife and cutlery manufacturers fill orders for clients around the world. The small town, which is located in north eastern Italy, is not only famous for its knives, it is also famous for its fresh, mild Montasio cheese (used in the Friulan cheese crisp called frico).

The origin of the prized Montasio cheese can be traced back to a 17^th century monastery in the mountains in the Friuli Venezia Giulia region. It is no wonder that Due Ancore, a Maniago family knife manufacturer that is currently run by fourth generation, Andrea Girolami, designed its Lamami line with over eight sets devoted to cutting, chopping and slicing various cheeses.

Photo Source: Lamami/Due Ancore

As an expression of Italian lifestyle, each set provides context about the food it is meant to be used with and is packaged in an elegant recycled cardboard book that is perfect for storing knives.

Blade Material: Stainless steel with molybdenum vanadium

Handle Material: Olive wood and Paperstone (a 100% post-consumer paper with petro-free resin)

Family History: Due Ancore dates back to the XIX Century when the Beltrame family started manufacturing farming tools.

Favourite Knife Sets: Honey Cheese and Nuts, Brandy Chocolate and Cigar, Soft Cheeses and Cheese and Wine.

The post Cut the Cheese appeared first on Countlan Magazine.

These days, Yorkshire born Louise Wilkinson calls bone china her canvas.  After studying illustration, Wilkinson got her start designing prints, patterns and characters for children’s clothes before moving into fashion when she moved to London over 10 years ago.

She launched her own design studio in 2012 and settled on designing whimsical tableware on bone china which is hand decorated in Stoke on Trent.  “I love the quality of fine bone china, particularly its flat surface area which is like a blank canvas” says Louise. “I wanted to create special cups and saucers that were playful and illustrative, with witty details.” Her Maple Collection includes a mix and match illustrated series of plates, cups, saucers, jugs trays and teapots.  It is a reflection of her love of the traditional decorative arts and the inspiration she draws from nature, fantasy and animals.

INTERVIEW: LOUISE WILKINSON, Illustrator/Artist {London}

01 Where are you based? 
I’m based South East London. It has a lovely feel with a creative community. I grew up in Yorkshire and moved to London over 10 years ago now. I like the balance of London, being able to see exhibitions and also visiting my family in the countryside.

02  How would you describe the style or aesthetic of your work?
 Decorative, playful and beautiful. Timeless designs with attention to detail. I like creating intricate, witty and whimsical artworks, often with a narrative.

03 Can you describe the process involved with creating a new tableware item?
I like to draw a few pencil sketches first on scraps of paper and then at a later stage I draw my artworks on the computer with a pen. The designs are then screen printed and hand decorated in Stoke on Trent. It took many months to consider the shapes and designs together and then to fit the artworks correctly.

04 How long does it take? 
My work is often influenced by my love of the traditional decorative arts, nature and exotic dreamlike places, also different exhibition I may visit in London or things I see out and about. I love art and illustration from, Japanese and Chinese paintings, Matisse, Henri Rousseau and George Lepape. Animals and the funny things they do also inspire my creativity!

05 What is next for you?
 I have just collaborated with the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) which was wonderful! It has always been one of my favourite and most inspiring museums. The collaboration involved illustrating the entire V&A shop Christmas Installation, the artworks all being my largest scale to date.

It was structured to coincide with the V&A shop’s celebration of the Blue Willow pattern and their major Autumn exhibition “Masterpieces of Chinese Paintings. I wanted to create a fantastical animal kingdom based around the Willow pattern story where I re-imagined the stories with my own interpretation. I will be selling my exclusive V&A artworks soon. I will also be exhibiting at Tent during London Design Week in September and working on exciting new designs and commissions.

06 What is the story behind your mix and match dinner plates? 
I like the idea that you can choose yourself how to mix and match the collection, making it a bit more fun! For stance all the cups & saucers sit with the teapot, you could have a matching set or one of each. The dinner plates can also be as a set or you may choose your favourite 4 different plates. Or even have a special plate for a wall display.

07 Do you entertain at home? 
I like casual entertaining at home, I like to mix illustrated and white tableware together – mixing and matching, on a light wood scandinavian table. I love tagines, thai or a Sunday roast chicken. I also like eating out a lot, at street foods in London, such as Brixton village food market or Maltby Street market in Bermondsey is great!

Photo Source: Louise Wilkinson

08 Are there any special cultural traditions related to hosting family or friends at home that you can share with us?
Always start with a cup of tea!

The post Pattern on Plates appeared first on Countlan Magazine.

Corbridge, a Roman village set along a portion of Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland, may seem an unlikely spot for an eclectic design shop like RE. After spending years working in the fashion industry, owners Jenny Vaughan and Simon Young opened RE in 2003 in a small converted workshop in a village far from the bustle of London, but closer to home.

RE is a showcase for a wide scope of unique merchandise, as well as Jenny and Simon’s multitude of skills in design, planning, styling and building collections. “There’s no set formula or logic to the style of RE,” says Jenny. “It’s purely about things we like mixed together: old, new, reworked, mass-produced or handcrafted one-offs.” Despite being five hours northeast of London, RE has found its way to the city in the form of pop-up shops and a permanent concession in the venerable department store Liberty of London.

Background:  Hadrian’s Wall is a nod to the power and vastness of the Roman Empire. It stretches 80 miles from the Solway Coast in the west to Tynemouth in the east, and it took 15,000 men six years to build. The Wall, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is the best known and preserved frontier of the empire.

INTERVIEW: Simon Young, Jenny Vaughan, Owners, Re {Corbridge}

01 When you give items a new lease on life, what inspires your designs?

It depends on the item – sometimes we are inspired by an old piece from a flea market that we can find lots of – for example the macabre plates we saw lots of plates and started collecting them then came up with the idea of re-decorating them we then had to find someone who could make the transfers to our designs and someone who was prepared to re-fire the old plates with the new motifs.

Inspiration – To be individual and unique, film, books, flea markets, exhibitions, collecting, skills and crafts – looking & watching all the time!

02 Why did you choose to get into tableware and home accessories? 

We’d had a lifetime in fashion and wanted to work in a different field but that still utilized our skills – design, planning and building collections and ranges, editing, styling, colour and pattern

03 What type of recycled items do you typically work with?  

All sorts – textiles, ceramics, furniture, metalwork, wire work, literally anything!

04 What is next for your company?

We are currently designing more exclusive products for the RE@liberty collection and who knows maybe a book?

05 Whose work do you admire when it comes to recycled/salvaged/upcycled design work around the globe?

We love the true crafts people who creatively recycle (often out of necessity) in the third world

06 Do you ship internationally?

Yes we have a lot of overseas customers and we also do an exclusive collection for Liberty at their Regent Street store in London

07 Do you entertain at home? 

SY – Not as much as I’d like, as we work six days a week!  Luckily my wife, Vicky, likes cooking particularly vegetarian recipes (although we are both meat eaters) Favourites include Mollie Katzen and Yotem Ottolenghi but we both love presentation and have lots of different crockery, cutlery and decorative objects to suit every theme or occasion!

08 Are there any unique/special cultural traditions related to inviting family or friends to your house that you can share with us?

SY – we often do Sunday brunches – bucks fizz or mimosas and Vicky makes great breakfast boxes – toasted bread boxes filled with a complete miniature breakfast – chipolata sausages, mini roasted vine tomatoes, bacon, mini fried quails eggs or scrambled eggs from our own hens and button mushrooms – delicious and really eye catching.

At Halloween we had lamb shank pies with paprika in individual gold dishes with the bone of the lamb shank sticking through the pie crust – ghoulish but very tasty!

The post Re Found Objects appeared first on Countlan Magazine.

Richard Sparrenhök and Sara Edhäll are on a mission to keep Iris Hantverk – Stockholm’s beloved traditional brush-manufacturing company – alive.

“Iris refers to the iris of the eye and hantverk means craft or handcraft in Swedish,” says Sara. “The reference to the eye comes naturally from our company’s history, as it has strong ties to SRF, a visually impaired organization in Sweden.”

Iris Hantverk’s roots date back to 1889 when a group of visually impaired craftsmen founded De blindas förening (DBF), an independent political organization charged to encourage and empower individuals with visual impairments to actively participate in society and gain equal access to employment in order to live gainfully.

Near the beginning of the 20th century, the group purchased brush-binding materials and set up a factory and a shop on Majorsgatan 12. Until 2012, the company relied on government subsidies from the Socialdepartementet to assist with the cost of materials, a main source of support for the company since the 1950s.

Now based in the suburbs of Stockholm, Iris Hantverk employs 14 people, five of whom have visual impairments, and continues to make brushes according to Swedish tradition. The brushes, made from natural materials like Swedish birch, beech and oak, and bristles from horsehair and Tampico, are complemented by a new range of accessories for the kitchen and bathroom.

Richard and Sara have their work cut out for them, but they are on the way to keeping the brand afloat. “We want to continue to highlight the excellent craftsmanship of the artisans who work with us,” says Sara. “It is also important to grow our markets outside of the country so more people can enjoy the Swedish traditions associated with brush-making, and make it so that we are in a position to hire more visually impaired craftsmen, a testament to our past and support for the community.”

Photo Source: Iris Hantverk

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Five Questions with Designer: Jessie Philips Andersen, Speechless Studios {Oakland}

Designer of: The Wobble Bowl

01 What Is a Wobble Bowl?

It’s a bowl that reflects motion in a toy-like movement, similar to the objects kids play with.

02 Made In?

I’d been making the Wobble Bowls myself, but I was having trouble producing enough to fulfill orders, and production was taking up most of my time, so I wanted to have someone else take it over so I could spend more time designing—specifically someone in the US producing high-quality work. Now the Wobble Bowls are made by a small, craft-focused production studio in Portland, OR, which produces its own work as well as that of other designers.

03 Material?

Wobble bowls are currently slip-cast in porcelain. Most of my other work is cast in a buff stoneware. I try to use materials that are traditional but clean, which is why I usually choose smooth, white clays for ceramics.

04 Do you Entertain at Home?

We host friends for dinners fairly often, as well as parties and holidays—we even hosted our wedding in our home. Our style is very warm and personal, yet clean. It’s a blend of modern Scandinavian design with vintage American.

Photo Source: Jesper Andersen, Switch Thomas

05 What is on Your Table?

My husband is Danish, so on our table, you’ll find my own work next to Georg Jensen serving pieces and Danish potter Birthe Sahl’s bowls. And there’s usually a quirky element, like our Little Joseph doll-head candleholders by Maxim Velcovsky, or, at Christmas, our 25 elf candle holders.

The post Five Questions with a Designer appeared first on Countlan Magazine.

Growing up in Denmark on a small “hobby farm” left a mark on New York-based fashion photographer Danny Christensen. “We had everything: cows, horses, pigs, rabbits, chickens, goats, ducks, geese, cats and dogs,” says Danny. “As a kid, I understood where my food came from and the circle of life because I touched it, I was a part of it, I saw it, I felt it.” Mealtime was often a group effort that truly embodied the meaning of farm-to-table, rather than one that required a trip to the grocery store. “The chicken that I fed yesterday is now on the table to feed the family.”

Christensen splits his time between New York City and the greater state, where he has parlayed his passion for food, hunting and cooking into an educational website and video blog called the Urban Huntsman. Episodes and posts feature Danny and his friends and family hunting, fishing and preparing a meal from their daily catch. He offers recipes such as rustic venison pizza, as well as useful tips, including how to build a fish smoker from a flower pot.

Urbanization continues to widen the distance between consumers and their food. Despite urban horticulture starting to catch on, and increased interest in buying fruits and veggies local farmers’ markets or CSAs (Community Supported Agricultural groups), what about our connection to meat? Danny’s mission is to educate meat-eaters about the lifecycle of an animal, bird or fish from the wild to the plate, encouraging a closer look than the butcher shop or supermarket shelves can offer. In terms of further education, Danny advocates actively hunting down information. “You’ve got to get out there. Reading about it means nothing, you have to feel it!”

INTERVIEW: Danny Christensen, Urban Huntsman {New York}

01 Why did you create the Urban Huntsman?
It’s a tough question to answer. There are so many reasons. Fundamentally, I want to educate people and show them that there is a different way to think about our impact on the earth and the environment. To show, as the superior animal on this planet, we have a responsibility towards the rest of the beings that inhabit the earth. For example, hunting in the US carries a stigma. It’s considered something negative because people kill for “fun”. But hunting is so much more than that. It gives us a profound connection to nature and our fellow animals.When you hold a deer or rabbit in your hands when it’s still warm, you feel it, it touches you and you respect the animal and it’s life.

Today, people are hardly connected to their sources of food. With urbanization, people venture to the city and loose all contact and understanding of where food comes from. People shop at grocery stores and buy a piece of chicken breast that has already been wrapped in cellophane. There is no connection between the chicken and where it came from in this format. The chicken breast is simply a dead thing. although it used to be alive. Its fate was sealed by someone’s desire to eat chicken. We outsource that physical part of killing animals but we are still involved in the food chain. Now that we are removed from the hunting equation, we try to act responsibly and ensure animals have a good life, and are slaughtered in painless, stress free ways.

So with The Urban Huntsman, I show people that it is possible to hunt, harvest, shop and feast based on the philosophy that we are responsible to our fellow beings on the earth and to the earth itself.

02 Who is on your team and why did you choose to work with this group of people? 
My right hand for most of the project has been Rasmus Linaa. He’s a fellow Dane with a big passion for food. He’s also a photographer and a videographer. We share the same aesthetics and we both see the beauty in everything, including killing your own food. The rest of the gang consists or various people I draw into each project like my friend/chef Owen Clark is a fellow outdoors-man who grew up in Colorado, hunting and fishing, Chef Andrew George, a member of the Wet’suwet’en Nation from British Columbia, taught me a lot, not only about native food history, but about the profound respect and honor for animals and mother earth. I work with director Simon Steuri, another tree hugger like myself,who shares my sensibility to everything living – and last but not least, my wife Yael. She is a big inspiration for everything I do and is an amazing cook.

03 What sources helped build your knowledge base around hunting?
Searching local hunting clubs and asking around.  Hunters are very open to introducing new people to the sport and its traditions. Another good source of information in the US is the  US Fish & Wild Life Service and Outdoor Life.

04 What have you learned over the course of developing the Urban Huntsman?
That the time is right, people are open to learning and even the most hard core anti-hunters can be educated to a broader understanding of what hunting is and its merits.

05 Do you entertain at home or outdoors?
I love entertaining, primarily during the warmer months when we can be outside at my house in Woodstock, there we fire up the big stone BBQ with natural wood and cook all day. I sometimes have dinner parties in my apartment in New York City where I enjoy the company of many different walks of life with different point of views, especially on food and hunting. It’s important to me to introduce my philosophy through food, because we all need to eat.  There is quite often wild game or fish on the menu and what ever my garden has ready for me at that specific time of the year, so also very seasonal.

Photo Source: Danny Christensen

06 Do you have any hunting mentors?
My dad Anton’s best friend Anton is a mentor- yes they are two different people. He introduced me to hunting and fishing when I was five years old. But the interest has always been there, it’s in my DNA – it’s in everyone’s DNA, it’s simply so suppressed in most people that they feel absolutely no connection any more, but it’s just dwelling.

07 What is next for you?
There are a lot of plans for The Urban Huntsman. We just finished filming a pilot for a TV version of the project. I have amazing commitments from very prominent people including chefs, politicians and well as representatives from native american tribes and simple people from the projects in New York City etc who all wants to join me on future adventures – so keep an eye out for Your TV listings

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