An evening with Søren in Hellerup

Meet one of Aarstiderne's founders, Søren Ejlersen, at Books & Company in Hellerup in one of a series of events on the Nordic Kitchen. Aarstiderne, his vision for 80/20 and a sneak peak at some of the innovative creations to be published in his upcoming book on juicing - Søren has lots to talk about!

He is always up to something and Søren's passions and inspirations take him from one exciting project to the next. A self confessed 'urban chef' and managing restaurants in Copenhagen, Søren discovered the agricultural scene and launched Aarstiderne, with his business partner Thomas Harttung, in 1999. He had been searching for the 'next step' from restaurant life and when a friend introduced him to Thomas and he saw the small local veggie box scheme he was running from a farm in Jutland, it 'blew his mind'. It was the inspiration he had been looking for and a week later the urban chef bought a tractor and signed a contract for 35 hectares of biodynamic farmland!

It wasn't long before these two like minded entrepreneurs decided to pool their expertise and vision and to take the organic box scheme and make it big, setting their sights on delivering to the capital. On 1 January 1999, they founded Aarstiderne and within 2 weeks were sending boxes of organic fruit and vegetables to 500 customers in Copenhagen.

The early years were 'crazy' - the business boomed and as the company grew so did the workforce with like minded people adding more and more passion and inspiration to bring it to where it is today; three large farms delivering organic boxes to more than 45,000 households in Denmark, Sweden and Germany. And Søren has visions for the future too: achieving the 80/20 principles of farming and food consumption, in particular reducing the use of fossil fuels, are high on his list of priorities for Aarstiderne - mighty aspirations for a farm that is also a retail business!

Søren has always kept a hand in the kitchen and he works with a team of chefs at Aarstiderne to develop the healthy and tasty recipes that appear on the website, in the meal boxes and on the 'Food cinema' cooking demonstration videos ('Mad Bio'). This summer he is working on a new juicing manual (due to be published in September). This bible of fruit and vegetable concoctions promises to make juicing experts of us all! The innovative recipes take smoothie making beyond the standard yoghurt and fruit based drinks and use seasonal vegetables to create more sophisticated blends.

The Books & Company evening event is on Wednesday 16 May from 7 to 9 pm. Tickets cost 50 DKK. To reserve a place email the bookshop at signup@booksandcompany.dk