At first, they built up their business alongside their jobs as physiotherapists. However, they have been devoting themselves full time to Lofoten Seaweed for over a year now to raise its profile and open up new market opportunities.

Seaweed is still very much a niche product, but the two founders have set themselves the challenge of encouraging people to integrate it into their diets through easy recipes or as a complement to a dish – for example as enriched salt. Their close friendship is a key recipe for their success.

“It’s the combination of Northern Norwegian temperament and creativity with a Japanese sense for quality and details. We complement each other perfectly and can build on each other’s strengths.”

The Fermentation Genius

David Zilber found courage in a quote from Julia Cameron’s book The Artist’s Way when he quit his job at the beginning of the pandemic with no specific plan in mind.

“A quote from Julia Cameron’s book The Artist's Way was stuck in my mind: ‘Jump and the net will appear’. Sometimes in life you may not have all the answers at any given time, but you have to have the faith that you can find them.”

Zilber is a trained chef, who for many years was part of the core team at the renowned restaurant Noma, whose cuisine has several times been voted the best in the world. When he took over management of the Fermentation Lab at the restaurant in 2016, his fascination with microbes and fermentation processes blossomed. He quickly learned from mistakes and experienced many “addictive aha moments”, such as when he began to understand the complex naming of enzymes – the nomenclature – in all its depth and effect. But then came the spring of 2020, when Zilber realised that the time was ripe for change.

“The pandemic exacerbated many problems in and around food consumption. For example, the just-in-time logistics that collapsed in many places left entire harvests rotting in farmers’ fields,” says Zilber.

“I feel a responsibility to bring about the change I want to see in the world in everything I do. That’s why I started deeply questioning how I could use my limited time on this planet in a meaningful way.”

By Josefine Klatt