The first of twelve people, men and women, all of whom in their various ways work with food and all of whom are passionate about what they do. It's a truism to say there has been a revolution in food - but these twelve have all taken fresh approaches: all have a sense of rootedness and authenticity. It was a great pleasure meeting all of them: from the lovely Jeremy Lee working in a down-to-earth way at his grand and history-imbued Quo Vadis to the three artisan producers at Spa Terminus: extraordinary people working enormously hard at what they love. Our great thanks to them all.
Unhindered by conformities, Ole Hansen arrived in London treating the city as a 19th century Norwegian emigré to Canada might have treated a wilderness riverbank, going about establishing his livelihood using whatever means were available. Thus, discovering a disused boiler room in a Stoke Newington warehouse, he built his smokery in it. Finding his studio flat short on space, he built himself a wooden cabin hidden among the rooftops of east London.
His business is called Hansen and Lydersen after a salmon smokery founded by his great grandfather - whose original recipe he still follows. He uses only organically reared Norwegian salmon. His smoked salmon is utterly wonderful, melt-in-the-mouth, really the best.
Finally - Ole is very tall - the raincoat shown below is the same size as that Steve Benbow (whom it fits as it should) is wearing here.
www.hansen-lydersen.com
Photography by Neil Gavin.
View the men's autumn winter 2013 collection here.
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