How to connect chefs and farmers around the world?
The invisible wall that divides the city and the countryside begins to tremble when chefs and farmers began collaborating in the Fill the Gap -project in the spring of 2014. The idea of an innovative collaborative project began to germinate in Sasu Laukkonen’s mind (head chef, Restaurant Chef & Sommelier, Helsinki) when he started thinking about the fact that chefs don’t really understand the work that farmers do. The dishes they create could not exist without the farmer’s invaluable contribution or the soil the vegetables grow in. The chefs and the farmers had to be brought to the same table, but how? Sasu Laukkonen asked for help from the farmer/chef Janne Länsipuro, and by combining their contacts and know-how, the project was born.
Together they want to help both culinary and farming students understand each others’ work, share knowledge and develop new openings for taking the culinary culture to the next level. The project is still active.
Project partners include: Fiskars, Cook it Raw Community, City of Helsinki and Restaurant School Perho.