Andreas Viestad is an award-winning cookbook author, Norwegian Food columnist and chef. He is the television host of New Scandinavian Cooking. Andreas is also the founder of Geitmyra Culinary Center for Children, where children can learn about food that is good for them. He lives in Oslo with his wife and three children.
LIFE AROUND THE TABLE To me, life is what happens around the table. The most important food is not what you eat at top restaurants, or make to impress your friends. It is the stuff you make and share with your family – every day.
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ometimes, it seems like we are all foodies, and that being a foodie is the most important way you can care about food: We talk about food, watch food shows and read glossy cookbooks. There are dinner parties that can sometimes seem more like cooking competitions than anything else. Everyday food is an altogether different ballgame. However much I enjoy dining out, or spending a whole Saturday fussing around the kitchen in anticipation of dinner guests, I think that
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the measure of a good and strong relationship to food is how you cook and eat under somewhat less-than-ideal circumstances: On a busy Tuesday afternoon; the meal that has to be squeezed in between all the other of the day’s chores. Those few minutes around the table are often the only time of day when the entire family is gathered in one place, a much needed opportunity to talk about our lives, to share a silly joke, or an important story about something that happened to us, and to – in the smallest and most sincere way, reconfirm our commitment to each other as a family.
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