Our Story

Jazz

Food

Art

Help! We've made a book* and published this website about it, among other things.

ENG. THIS IS US: Just as Paolo* searched for that one unmistakable tone in music, Trude* searched for the right colour on the palette. On our travels, we were searching for the very best flavours – an almost never-ending adventure of tastes and discoveries, brought home in our suitcases to share with friends.

The experience of wandering through the food markets of Bucharest. The cheese shops of southern Italy. A little bar down a back street in Madrid, where a wonderful man had a very special cheese hidden in the back room – a cheese we were, naturally, allowed to buy. Mangalitza* sausages served with ice-cold beer for breakfast in Budapest. A bakery on the outskirts of Sarajevo with wonderfully unusual breads. A mountain town in Italy where they had the best lentils. Then on to Terni to buy pecorino and copiette – dried strips of wild boar marinated with fennel and chilli.

The best flavours. The wonderful encounters. The people.

Food became a way of life alongside the art, and a constant source of inspiration. Eventually, the idea began to take shape: a little farm shop* at Bjørke Østre*, a beautiful 18th-century farm in Ådalsbruk.

We are starting small, with just a few carefully selected products. Among them is a wonderful olive oil* from Puglia* in southern Italy – a former gold-medal winner, and the kind of oil that reminds us why we have always found it rather difficult to come home from a journey empty-handed.

And this is only the beginning.

NOR (ORIG.) DETTE ER OSS: Slik Paolo søkte den helt unike tonen i musikken, søkte Trude den rette fargen på paletten. På våre reiser jaktet vi på de beste smakene – et nesten evigvarende eventyr av smaker som vi fraktet med oss hjem i koffertene, for å dele med venner.

Opplevelsen av å vandre på matmarkedene i București. Ostebutikkene i Sør-Italia. En liten bar i en bakgate i Madrid, hvor en herlig mann hadde en helt spesiell ost på bakrommet – en ost vi selvfølgelig fikk kjøpe. Mangalitza-pølser servert med iskaldt øl til frokost i Budapest. Et bakeri i utkanten av Sarajevo med helt spesielle brød. En fjellby i Italia hvor de hadde de beste linsene. Videre til Terni for å kjøpe pecorino* og copiette – tørkede strimler av villsvin, marinert med fennikel og chili.

De beste smakene. De flotte møtene. Menneskene.

Dette ble en livsstil ved siden av kunsten, og en kilde til inspirasjon. Etter hvert vokste også tanken om å starte en liten gårdsbutikk på den vakre 1700-tallsgården Bjørke Østre på Ådalsbruk.

Vi vil begynne forsiktig, med noen få, nøye utvalgte produkter. Blant dem en fantastisk olivenolje fra Puglia i Sør-Italia – tidligere vinner av en gullmedalje, og med en smak som minner oss om hvorfor vi alltid har hatt vanskelig for å komme tomhendte hjem fra en reise.

Og dette er bare begynnelsen.

FARM DICTIONARY, OUR WORDS

HELP!
An exclamation used when you've accidentally started a farm shop, written a book, collected too many tins of olive oil, and decided that all of this should somehow become a website.

Also on another ♯ note, see: The Beatles, YouTube is a great place for starters. Great Song.

And a rather familiar holiday feeling. See also: Chevy Chase. As above so below - many a trailer is readily available.

BJØRKE ØSTRE
An 18th-century farm, currently housing an unreasonable amount of olive oil.

THE BOOK
Technically not finished. On paper, getting there. Apparently this is not stopping us from building a website about it.

FARM SHOP
A small shop containing food, art, stories and probably more cheese stories than stringly necessary.

Currently operating on high hopes, strong coffee, and an unreasonable inventory of gold-medal olive oil (distinguished nose approved).

MANGALITZA
A Hungarian pig with excellent taste. Or perhaps excellent taste because it is a Hungarian pig.

OLIVE OIL
A perfectly reasonable thing to collect. Especially when travelling in Puglia. The problem only begins when the suitcase refuses to close.

PECORINO
Cheese. Important enough to make a detour for. Especially when the detour takes you to Italy.

PAOLO
Musician, food obsessive, Father of Cheese, traveller. Instigator of many a detour.

TRUDE
Artist, colour hunter, co-conspirator.

A CUNNING PLAN
Balzac once wrote about ambition; we just wanted an excuse to buy more Pecorino.

PUGLIA
Southern Italy. Olive trees. Dangerous levels of good olive oil. Proceed with caution.

View full wordlist

Our Selection

Olive Oil | Puglia Italy