Some traditional cultural institutions are struggling to find their place in an increasingly digital world. This presents an opportunity to rethink the use of these spaces and thus bolster their enduring relevance. Food – and the need for learning, cooking and enjoying food together – is a clear area of opportunity.
We propose a pioneering project to expand the function of existing cultural institutions to include a role as a local culinary centre in a way that harmonises with their current activities. Existing Nordic cultural centres, including those in Reykjavik, Torshavn and Nuuk, are clear candidates, but the potential in other types of institutions should be explored as well.
The library is an example of an institution in search of new ways to contribute to the communities in which they are situated. Even if, at first glance, food and cooking is not usually associated with the local library, this could be an exciting new dimension. Many libraries in larger towns and cities already have kitchen spaces connected to café settings. Others could be equipped with mobile units and/or have basic kitchen facilities built in. In its capacity as a culinary cultural centre – while of course still functioning as a library – it would organise a variety of activities: short cooking classes for adults, talks, long-table meals with local chefs and associations, classes for children in school and daycare, growing food in miniature gardens as school projects, assembling a cooking library, loaning out special cooking utensils to go with recipes (library-style), publishing a local food newsletter and organising events in collaboration with other cultural institutions, restaurants, shops and businesses.
We envision this as a pilot project with a number of cultural institutions, including Nordic cultural centres and selected libraries in some or all Nordic countries. A cross-Nordic team should be formed to help design and implement the concept which should be tailored to local contexts and facilities.
A network of culinary cultural centres across the Nordics could collaborate on various flagship projects. One such project, suggested as an initiative at the summit, is an open-source database of our Nordic culinary heritage. This database, which users of the culinary centres are encouraged to contribute to, would compile traditional recipes and techniques from each country and region. They would then be made accessible to the public and used in education programmes. Such a database could, of course, also be created as a stand-alone initiative, not connected to culinary centres.