People work with food in many forms and shapes. It takes bountiful resources to bring food to our tables while dealing with number of challenges on the way. Upon meeting Mia Maja at our brewery we understood that we are also food pirates and we love it. Are you a food pirate? Meet Mia Maja and lets learn together.
Who you are and what do you do?
I am Mia Maja and I am an entrepreneur that has created business out of helping other entrepreneurs get started. I am the founder of shareable kitchen called the Kitchen Collective and food innovation house and cooperative called Copenhagen Food Space and a founder of Street Food Festival. I am operating from the heart of Copenhagen, in the Meatpacking District.
What does it mean that you are a food pirate?
Being a food pirate is easier to understand through examples, than an explanation, but I will try my best anyway. So being a food pirate is being one that hijacks the agenda of others and play them good at the same time. So it is about knowing who you need to be collaborators with in order to achieve your vision and hijack their agenda and make sure they work in order to achieve what you need. A good food pirate is one that takes action over talk, is one that takes risks and, most importantly, is one that is generous. Always generous. Right now we have some very, very good examples of other brave food pirates out there. I really admire the work of Den Grønne Ungdomsbevægelse, that has now hijacked the agenda of Landbrug Fødevarer under the Fødebro and Landvar, on their behalf they are saying sorry. In my opinion, they are playing them well and teaching us what has gone wrong with our food system.
Your favorite recipe right now?
My favorite recipe is something that comes to me while I cook… No! That’s not true! It’s actually something that comes to me while I’m doing my grocery shopping. When I am about to plan a meal, I always start with - ‘what do I have?’. I really love to go to markets, especially Grøntmarked, which we have in Copenhagen. What we have there from the producers, sort of gives me the inspiration of what I will go home and cook. I can never tell what the dish is before it is served.
It tastes good, right?
Yeah! It always tastes good. But normally, it contains a lot of kale, haha…. and cheese…haha
What does sustainable cuisine mean for you?
A sustainable cuisine to me is what the word contains - is one that sustains itself. I think this is a very important factor that we sort of have forgotten. In the world that has a capitalistic system, no matter whether you support this or not, being in the world with a capitalistic system, to sustain itself, first of all, means that you can actually afford to produce it, or live off it or create a sustainable financial system around it. This is our biggest challenge in the food system right now, is that we do not have a sustainable food system. So, a sustainable cuisine for me is, first of all, meals where no one has paid for it being served. Right now, we have this horrible situation in the restaurants, where people pay an awful amount of working hours in order to serve the meal and this is ont sustainable. So, a sustainable cuisine is one where you know about the true cost and you paid the true cost for it.
If you had to imagine the future of Danish tables, what would it be?
When?
Let’s say in 10 years.
In 10 years we have learned to cook again… and we actually value cooking and we spend most of our day eager to go home from work, because we will go home and cook. This is the most important situation in your daily life, that you are going home to cook, because that reminds you of the Earth you’re connected to and the people you are connected to. In 10 years we can all point at meals and say ‘this produce is from there and this produce is from there’ and the meals are green and full of care and love.
The biggest challenge in your work, achieving your vision?
What comes to my mind is in relation to what I said before. The bigger challenge in my work… I am just a part of the food system, I need to work on behalf of the food system, not on behalf of the Kitchen Collective or Copenhagen Food Space or Street Food Festival, but on behalf of the whole food system… and we have the common challenge that people don’t value food. Enough to pay enough for it. Enough to spend enough time on it. Enough to care who the producers are. As long as people don’t value this, we cannot have a conversation about fair working conditions, about what is the true cost, what would it take to create a system that is financially sustainable, what would it take to make a system that respects the planetary boundaries. All of those, we cannot start the conversation until people start to value what they eat and what they drink.
What is your favorite food spot in Copenhagen? Where does the food pirate go to eat?
I cannot mention one. I love to go to restaurants where I know where they get their produce and I sort of have this idea that people are having a very good time while they go to work. I could mention a lot of restaurants that I love, but I am also a fan of restaurants right now that dare to take an activist approach and teach us stuff while they are serving. I think restaurant Lola has done a lot of great work in order to tell us about working hours, working conditions. I think Trine Hahnemann has done a lot of good work in order to teach us about equality among food producers and consumers. I think the people behind La Mar, Safari, Omar… Just a simple thing about walking into the restaurant where it says ‘we do not tolerate sexual abuse, racism’ - such a simple thing and I find a lot of hope in that. People having a restaurant now can see that they can also have an activist approach and activist voice in order to push for a better food system.
What is your favorite family and friends weekend activity?
My most favorite activity must be to build a big fire haha… so I love fire haha… and I love to cook over fire!
