On The Chef Who Transformed Norway's Food SceneBen Mervis
Take a closer look at the career of Eyvind Hellstrøm (we released his MAD video yesterday). He's the chef who helped transform Norway's dismal restaurant community into what it is today.
In 1970 a pair of roadtripping twenty-somethings arrived to dine at the classic three-star restaurant Auberge de l’Ill, in Illhausern, France. The young men were Eyvind Hellstrøm and his friend Asbjørn, two apprentice chefs at the Grand Hotel, Oslo. They were ready to experience one of the finest meals in the world. Until Eyvind realized he’d forgotten to make a reservation.
The staff at Auberge de l’Ill did initially reject Eyvind, but the young Norwegian told the owners their story and plans, and they finally relented and found space for the pair to eat. For Eyvind, this was a decisive moment, as he credits this meal with sparking his career. As he puts it, “It was the beginning of the adventure. This was my educational journal.”
Another important meal for Eyvind was his first trip to Les Frères Troisgros in Roanne. He was particularly inspired by the way in which Jean Troisgros seemed to embody hospitality, style, and generosity, later saying at MAD in 2014 that, “You need great cooking, but you need great attitude and great style. I think it’s all about getting people to return to the place.“ The initial trip became the first in an annual series of pilgrimages to the restaurant. To Eyvind, it is still the greatest restaurant in the world.
Back in Paris, Eyvind spent five years as a ‘chef bohème’ working for cheap, and traveling to and from Norway to earn money. When he left Paris, he moved back to Norway to study at culinary school in Stavanger. In the 1960s and 70sm the state of Oslo’s restaurant scene was dismal. Its local resources were massively overlooked in favor of canned goods and frozen foods.
For Eyvind, one of the most important steps was to learn French: “Learning French is the smartest thing I’ve ever done—it’s the culinary world’s language. There’s always at least one Frenchman in a kitchen, and the French school of cooking is fundamental for everything else. France is the most important culinary super power. Everything starts with the French kitchen.”
But cooking French food was difficult to do without fresh produce, and the key to his success would be the implementation and fusion of French cuisine with Norway’s unique resources. This philosophy was the backbone to Bagatelle’s success, and crucial in helping it become Scandinavia’s first two-Michelin-starred restaurant.
According to Eyvind, “The most important thing for me is not the dish but the ingredients, which must be of the best quality and as fresh as possible. Wild salmon or Norwegian scallops, for example, don’t need anything more than a little salt and pepper!”
Norway’s local produce offered a wide array of incredible ingredients, and Eyvind was keen to uncover their potential at the restaurant: “When I started Bagatelle in 1982, Norwegians had no idea they possessed the world’s best salmon! They were unaware that the whole world was ready to import their coquilles Saint-Jacques, their halibut, fresh cod, king crab, turbot, langoustines, and muscles, not to mention the game, reindeer, venison and snow partridge.”
In his time at Bagatelle some of Eyvind’s most famous dishes included “scallop carpaccio served with sea urchins or with yuzu fruit, lobster with an orange dill sauce, King crab salad, and wild pigeon with trompettes de la mort mushrooms.” From “la poularde de Bresse aux fromages au lait Cru, to foie gras, truffles, and Grand Bordeaux wines,” Eyvind’s kitchen brought French food to Oslo, and to the whole of Norway.
The chef has refuted claims that he is a stern and sometimes excessively intense perfectionist in the kitchen: “That perception has been created by the media. I’m actually a kind and good guy”. “I had to be unambiguous and expect high discipline from [my] chefs.”
Eyvind has cultivated a high level of praise from his colleagues. Esben Holmboe Bang, head chef of Oslo’s Michelin starred Maaemo, speaks of Eyvind’s legacy in superlatives: "Eyvind Hellstrøm is the single most influential person in gastronomy in Norway. Not only has he mentored and nested a generation of chefs, he has single-handedly changed the way the Norwegian public thinks about and approaches food.”
Eyvind has also been praised by his friend and “spiritual father” Paul Bocuse. In 2007, Bocuse selected him for the French Legion of Honor, saying that “This is a recognition of the work done over the last 40 years from Hellstrøm to develop vocational studies for cookery in Norway, lifting Norwegian chefs up to the highest international level, and making Norwegian cuisine and ingredients known internationally. Rarely has a person done so much for a country’s fare as Eyvind Hellstrøm, and the Norwegian people can be proud and thankful for what he has done so that Norwegian chefs and ingredients now find themselves in the world’s elite.”
The chef left Bagatelle in 2009 to pursue a life in food television, but he insists that his interest and outlook on eating culture remain the same: “My food philosophy has been to cultivate individual ingredients. Now I’m doing the same really, just in a different way. I convey good food and the importance of good ingredients.” Since 2013, he has been a judge on Norway’s MasterChef, as well as the host his own food show. He is proud to be an influence on changing food culture in Norway: “Most of my fans are aged between 10 and 12. They see me on TV, and instruct their parents. In light of this, I feel my work is very important.”