HUMANS OF IMPACT HUB

ANNIKEN’S STORY

It all started in my grandpa’s kitchen. He was a baker with a hungry stomach and an appetite for more. His garden was filled with vegetables, fruits and herbs – basically anything that could grow in Norway.

I was a lucky kid because he came to pick me up everyday from kindergarden. He would bring me to his kitchen where we would be preparing foodfor hours. For an outsider we would just be making an everyday meal, but for me it was far more than that. In my grandpa’s kitchen I learned to appreciate taste. The atmosphere, the connection between us and the food – that was magical! It has never seized to amaze me how making something so easy could be so wonderful and mind-blowing at the same time. Until now, sitting at the dinner table, tasting a meal and having a conversation, makes an appreciation for the simplicity of life come up in me.

The childhood tale got mixed up when I grew older and strived to fit into the standard and fulfill others’ expectations. My parents split up, the whole family got split up. The only thing that maintained us connected was sharing a common meal.

While traveling I experienced more food, wine and beverages in general. When I got back from 4 months of backpacking I was feeling very restless, not really knowing what to do with my life. It was then that I met some people that were starting a restaurant in Leikanger.

In the food industry I had a deja vue with the essence of taste. The people that worked there had so much knowledge, it was inspiring! For me wine and food is so much more important than we make it seem. It can seem so regular, because we have it every day. People rush into things every day, they feel they have to be important and they have to be somewhere when instead they only have to be present.

Being present in the beauty of the moment, that is what wine and food mean to me.