Conversations with Knut Magnus Persson, CEO of ScalMarin

​

​

 

 

 

ABOUT

 

 

Scalmarin is a Norwegian company led by marine experts with the goal of making the production of seafood sustainable. They deliver the best possible quality products of local shellfish to fine dining restaurants like Lysverket and Cornelius. They harvest the product by diving and through collaborations with local fishermen. 

​

Scalmarin keeps the harvested shells in a pool, which pumps water from the fjords. The water is taken from 120 meters depth, where the temperature is (constantly) 8 degrees, then the water is UV filtered and is qualified for the Norwegian 'drinking water law'. These steps secure the quality of the products throughout the year. 

​

​

​

OUR ENGAGEMENT

 

 

I spoke to my friend, and 3 star Michelin chef, Christopher Haatuft, who runs a fine-dining restaurant in Bergen, about an early version of the oyster bar idea. He recommended that I got in contact with one of his suppliers; Knut. I emailed Knut, and then called him - and he was kind enough to meet me in the city (his 'farm' is 40 minutes outside). He gave me a HUGE box of different kinds of local seashells and some alive ones. He gave me a bunch of mussels that he couldn't use because they had laid on sand, and had therefore formed small pearls inside. He also gave me some scallops.

​

Side note: I have a cabin close to where his farm is, and I've noticed that the abundance of mussels that used to be there, has altogether disappeared. I asked him why that was, and he explained that due to the massive salmon farms in the area there have been some virus problems that effected the mussels population and they disappeared, but that they are slowly coming back now. 

​

Later I had an idea of perhaps placing a dial inside one of the oysters, and let the oyster grow nacre around it, just like it would with a parasite (the defence mechanism of any moelleux is to "trap" parasites with nacre -- this is how pearls are made). He believed this would be very possible, and I could do the experiments at his farm, but that it would take up to two years to get that done. 

 

Anyway, I invited my family for a feast with the O'sjell, mussels and scallops he gave me. I tried to speak with them about my restaurant idea for Baume. The asked me not to play with my food so much