An Interview With Kalle Bergman, The Mastermind Behind Honest Cooking (Favorite Foodies Series)

I have a very special guest for you today, Kalle Bergman. Kalle is Editor In Chief and the mastermind behind Honest Cooking Food Magazine. By now I'm sure many of you have visited Honest Cooking and have fallen in love with this delicious food magazine. You should also get to know Kalle the passionate driving force behind it all. Sure there is a long list of contributors from around the world, including yours truly, but if it wasn't for Kalle we wouldn't be enjoying the great articles and delicious recipes being published. Kalle is a super nice guy with so much love and passion for this project so sit back and get to know him a little more. Also please don't forget to show your support and stop by Honest Cooking to say Hi. And now I leave you with Kalle.

1. Kalle can you tell us a little bit about you and your culinary background ?
Well, I've been cooking since I was a kid. One of my favorite things to do when I was little was to loot my mother's spice rack and mix stuff. I wanted to see how it tasted if I threw some cinnamon and salt together, or what happened if I combined allspice with vanilla sugar. It wasn't always successful - but I loved it. When I got older, I decided to become a Chef - which I didn't. I tried it for a short while, but decided I wasn't cut out for the pro-kitchen. So I went on to read and write about food instead.

2. Honest Cooking, tell us what the magazine is all about ?
Well, it's quite simple. It's a melting pot of the most inspiring and appetizing writers from across the globe that all write about the kind of food and drinks they love. No traditional filters. It really is a little all over the place, and you never know what you're going to read about on Honest Cooking. Well, food & drinks obviously, but other than that no. At least that's the ambition. Come back everyday and find something to read that you weren't expecting.

Raspberry Mazarines Photo By Mads Damgaard

3. When readers stop by Honest Cooking what is the message you want them to leave with ? Besides I'm hungry, of course.
That cooking is fun and that we should all be spending a lot more time in the kitchen together as families. If we did, the world would absolutely be a better place. And I hope they discover some of our amazing contributors, and become regular readers of their personal blogs as well.

4. What inspired you to launch Honest Cooking ?
I couldn't find a website like it anywhere, and my guess was that more people than me would like to read it. A website with the passion and personality of the blogs, but with the format and quality of the magazines. Not automated, no rss-feed stuff - but for real. A magazine with a new voice.

5. What was the moment in which you realized you wanted be a part of the culinary world ?
Oh, I don't think that was a single moment - but many many small moments throughout my life that either pointed me in this direction, or affirmed me in my choice.

Dinner Time: Beef A La Lindström Photo By Mads Damgaard

6. What is your favorite food to cook or bake, and why ?
I really am a comfort food kind of guy, and that's party where "Honest Cooking" comes from. So basically, anything that's straight forward. Obviously I'm very much into my native Scandinavian kitchen, with all the wonderful stuff that comes from the North, but I'm also a sucker for anything Mediterranean. A barbecue, some chuletas de cordero, a little garlic, lemon and rosemary. Heaven.

7. What food or ingredient repulses you the most ?
Nothing actually. I'm an omnivore. I did have a hard time with liver when I was younger, and was also not big on lamb. Now, I love them both. Anything cooked properly, is usually good.

The Ultimate Swedish Meatballs Photo By Mads Damgaard

8. What ingredient inspires you the most ?
I think wild game is amazing, and something we should all try to eat more of. Partly from an ethical perspective, but absolutely also with flavor in mind.

9. What food is your food vice? You know, one you sneak in a little extra of when no one is looking.
Butter, unfortunately. I love butter, and can't get enough of it. I actually try not to have butter at home, unless I really need it, as I tend to sneak it into any food I cook if I have access to it.

Smooth Cauliflower Soup With Garlic Bread Photo By Mads Damgaard

10. What is your most special or memorable kitchen moment, be it a happy or a disastrous memory ?
Tough question. Probably the first time I set foot in a professional kitchen when I was about 17. Scary place.

11. Do you like to listen to music while you cook ? What do you listen to ?
I don't actually. I prefer to sing myself.

Danish Apple Pork Photo By Mads Damgaard

12. What is your favorite spice and why ?
I had a very long lasting love affair with garlic, but my new mistress is chili. I love the fact that chili is so many things. From sweet to smokey to slightly stingy to extremely and violently murderous.

13. When you cook or bake are you a plan ahead kind of person or are you a lets see what ingredients we have to work with ?
I am bad at following recipes myself. I just tend to create as I go. Sometimes it rocks, sometimes - not so much. I absolutely love cookbooks, but I very rarely use them for anything else than flipping through them and getting hungry.

Photo By Mads Damgaard

14. When you go out to eat what do you go for ?
It depends on the mood. I love fine dining and to be pampered in a creative and fancy environment by the best in the business. But if I had to choose, I'd probably end up in a shabby wine bar with a good bottle of red, great company and some tapas. Or a dirt cheap dim-sum place.

15. What's next for you and/or Honest Cooking ?
Right now, I'm just happy it has been so extremely well received - as we are still finding our sea legs. But of course we want to grow - both vertically and horizontally. And keep the quality. We've just been online for a month, but we're already making waves. In six months, I'm hoping those waves are going to be big.

Keep up with Kalle and the global contributors on Honest Cooking - Twitter - Facebook