Last week, students of Västgöta nation were selected to take part in a TV-show recording at the Grand Hotel. But the crew were in for a surprise when they met the students.
– We expected diets made up of kebabs and noodles, said producer Rick Jones.
Over the course of the preceding week, filming had been carried out around Skåne to make the pilot episode of “Tareq Taylor’s Local Food”. The show aims to shine the spotlight on the work of local food producers in various parts of Scandinavia, making the audience more aware of the rich variety of foods available on their doorstep.
Tareq originally decided to come to Lund to talk to students about their experiences with food. So the crew contacted Västgöta nation to find willing volunteers to have their eating habits exposed to the world. But it quickly became apparent that the majority of the students who chose to be involved already had the healthy eating habits that the show hoped to engender in them:
– We expected diets made up of kebabs and noodles, remarked production manager Rick Jones.
– But it turns out the students here all like food and eat relatively healthily already.
Not to be deterred, Tareq quickly adapted his approach and sought to show the selected students the kind of meals they can create from local ingredients.
The change in approach proved a hit with exchange student Natalie Nolte from Denmark.
– I am already fairly conscious about what I eat and try to be as healthy as possible. But I want to eat more Scandinavian food so this opportunity has been a very exciting and unexpected surprise – definitely not something I thought I would be getting to do when I came to Lund.
The students were then invited to the Grand Hotel on Friday to try their hands in the kitchen and prepare a meal for the local producers who were to appear on the show.
Just before entering the kitchen, Jordanian exchange student Saleh Vallander looked rather pensive as he revealed that:
– The extend of my cooking skills is making lentil soup, I much prefer eating food to preparing it!
However, Swedish student Johan Hemberg adopted a somewhat more laid back approach to the affair:
– I am excited. We will see what we learn, what we succeed and fail with… what we burn.
After an intense five hours in the kitchen which, miraculously, did not involve the burning of any food, a jubilant Natalie summed up her experience:
– Everyone in the kitchen was happy, it wasn’t stressful at all. Tareq was awesome, he was full of excitement and energy and I loved his passion for Scandinavian cooking. The best thing I learned is that cooking can be done by anyone if you just take the time to learn and have a little patience.
To find out more about Natalie and the other students’ adventure in the kitchen, you will have to wait until the show has been picked up by a television station and given an official air date.
Click to see the slideshow by Pedro Campos
