Bernese Innovations
The food revolution has begun
What we eat is changing fundamentally. This, at least, is the conviction of the four Bernese trendsetters, who have their say here in cooperation with the Forum for University and Society. With their bold business ideas, pioneering spirit, a flair for tinkering and a great deal of patience, they pursue the same goal: To make the food chain more environmentally friendly, ethical and thus more promising for the future.
Kevin Schmid, BakeryBakery: Vegan chocolate rolls
“I’ve been eating a vegan diet for seven years. I no longer wanted to experience the ambivalence that I felt when I ate meat and then stroked my dog. But on a vegan diet, I increasingly missed the snack options in between – for example, a croissant or chocolate rolls for breakfast. I am a trained chef and so three years ago I started developing recipes for vegan baked goods together with a baker. We replace the butter with nut fat; for the butter taste there is a natural butter flavoring that is added to the dough. Apple purée, banana or lentils can be used as an egg substitute. Instead of protein, you can whip water that has had chickpeas soaking in it. And replacing cow’s milk with oat milk is not a problem. However, the production processes for vegan baked goods are different from conventional ones, such as the baking temperature. Three years ago, we moved into the Gelateria di Berna with a pop-up shop. A year later, I was able to fulfill my desire for my own store and bakery by taking over the Mutzenbeck in the Breitenrain district. Today, we operate two stores in Bern and one in Zurich. We also supply the catering industry with a deep-freeze line: Baked goods produce less food waste. I am convinced that the future will bring new forms of nutrition. On the other hand, people will move away from substitute products, for example for meat.”
Assi Grunder, New Roots: Cheese without cow’s milk
“We should stop exploiting animals for our food. The CO2 emissions, hormones and drugs in feed, the deforestation of rainforests for feed production – none of this makes sense. However, many people find it difficult to eat a vegan diet because they have to do without cheese and other dairy products. That’s why we started looking for ways to make cheese without cow’s milk in 2015. Instead of animal milk, we use milk from cashew nuts, after which production proceeds in the same way as it would for conventional cheese. The yield in relation to the amount of ingredients used is much higher: Half a liter of milk from cashew nuts makes one kilo of cheese, whereas the same amount requires eight to twelve liters of cow’s milk. We source the cashews from fair cultivation in Burkina Faso and Vietnam. Since this year, however, we have been using fewer nuts. In the future, we want to work more with raw materials – such as chickpeas and lupins – from local cultivation. Our replacement also seems to appeal to non-vegans: Almost 95% of our customers eat flexitarian food, which means they eat both vegan and animal products. I am convinced that we are creating the new traditions of the future and hope that in 50 years’ time more vegan than non-vegan products will be in chiller cabinets.”
Christian Bärtsch, Essento: Protein from organic mealworms
“We operate the world’s first organically certified insect farm in Endingen in the canton of Aargau. After all, it makes sense to supplement our menu with ingredients made from insects. They provide us with valuable nutrients such as vitamin B12, minerals and high-quality proteins. It is easy to breed insects in the cycle of our food system. This is because we use the by-products of food production, such as grain mills or sugar production, for feed. Insect excretion, in turn, can be used as fertilizer in agriculture. By 2030, we expect 2,000 tons of by-products from food production to be upcycled. Five years ago, we launched two products, a hamburger and falafel balls made from ground organic mealworms. We are now able to offer more than eight different products, including crispy snacks and protein bars. The items are sold at Coop, among others. In order to be able to produce at all, we had to bring about a change in the law and lobbied extensively. Since May 2017, Switzerland has been the first Western country to permanently approve three species of insects as food – mealworms, crickets and locusts. Today, we need a social debate about how to eat sensibly – and we need tasty products. My favorite is our hamburger. With fresh salad and pickled onions, this makes an excellent meal.”
Karin Spori, foodwaste.ch: Saving food
“To put it simply, our club was created by buying a croissant and doing two master theses: Founding member Claudio Beretta was standing in his favorite bakery and saw unsold goods being disposed of. He wondered how large the mass of all discarded foods in Switzerland is and made the topic his master thesis as part of his ETH degree in environmental science. As a result, he met João Almeida, who was also conducting research on food waste at the University of Basel for his master thesis. Ten years ago, they founded the association foodwaste.ch, and I joined in 2017. We inform, raise awareness and motivate the Swiss population so that they value food more. Today, 2.8 million tons of food are wasted here every year. The federal government wants to halve this figure by 2030. One third of food waste in Switzerland is caused by consumers. This proportion is particularly significant for the environment, as the discarded food has already passed through the entire production chain and has therefore unnecessarily used up a lot of resources. With our workshops – such as courses on how to preserve food surpluses – we want to create new enthusiasm for food and bring about a change in behavior. If you want to do something yourself, it is worth analyzing your own food waste traps. Personally, I buy less bread today because it often became hard.”
University and Society Forum
Nutritional trends
Karin Spori (foodwaste.ch) and Christian Bärtsch (Essento) will appear on Saturday, January 21, 2023, as part of the event series “Nutrition Trends – Between Reality and Dogmas” organized by the Forum for University and Society (FUG).
About the Author
Julia Konstantinidis studied social work at the Bern University of Applied Sciences and worked in this field for several years. After an interlude as a tour guide, she entered journalism in 2003 with a traineeship at the Press Office Kohlenberg Basel, where she still works today.
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