We knew you’d love to know more about the artist behind these magical superfood bowls – so we caught up with Anni - she shared her health tips, more on her art and her exciting plans!
C&J: Anni, tell us a little bit about yourself
Anni: I was born in Turku, in southern Finland, where I spent most of my childhood. We always traveled a lot and I also lived in Israel and France for a couple of years with my family when I was a kid. Now I’ve been living in Helsinki for the past five years or so.
I’m an entrepreneur and freelancer, working with anything related to healthy food and wellbeing. I do food styling, social media marketing, workshops and recipe writing for multiple different brands.
I’m currently working on my first own cookbook and building a new health food brand called DATE + KALE. With DATE + KALE, we are about to start a health food delivery box in Helsinki, working on getting our own range of products for sale, maybe even opening a deli later this year..!
C&J: How did you first start off making your smoothie bowl art?
Anni: Visuality has always had a big influence on everything I do…Due to my dancer/ gymnast/ sports background - I’ve been more or less interested in healthy eating since I was pretty young.
I love creating things myself (drawing, painting, photography and so on), but sometimes it can be hard to find enough time for creative work when studying and/ or working. I guess these ‘artsy’ edible bowls are just my new way of combining some of these passions, something that can be easily squeezed in to the daily routines and made part of my everyday life.
C&J: We’re sure many of our readers would love to know how long it takes you to make your bowls?
Anni: For smoothie bowls, blending the base normally takes less than five minutes, then decoration takes 15-20 minutes, shooting and editing the pic takes 5-10 minutes…So I would say around 25-35 minutes in total. For (raw) porridges it takes me around 20-25 minutes maximum.
C&J: How do you come up with fresh inspiration?
Anni: I guess anything around me can be inspirational, I think inspiration is something that comes from the unconscious…That’s why it’s always difficult to determine where exactly it comes from – art, graphical prints, nature, just colour combinations and, of course, other Instagrammers and bloggers. I also get inspired whenever I travel and try the local food in different places around the world.
C&J: Where do you prefer to get your ingredients from?
Anni: Most of the ingredients I use are from my local health food store or just the regular Finnish supermarket. The Nordic berries that I use a lot (wild blueberries, sea buckthorn berries, currants, cloudberries and so on) can be easily found in large supermarkets anywhere in the Nordic countries.
I try to always choose seasonal produce and my eating habits also vary a bit depending on the season (colder and lighter meals for the summer time, something more comforting for the winter). In the summertime I like shopping in the lovely outdoors fresh markets we have here in Helsinki and of course whenever I hear about a new Finnish or Nordic product or ingredient or a new way of using such from someone I’m keen on trying it (Finnish berry powders, wild herbs and grains for example).
C&J: What are your top tips for staying happy and healthy?
Anni: Sleep enough, eat real food, train both your body and mind, laugh a lot and remember to sometimes just chill and spend time with your loved ones. <3
C&J: Favourite superfood and why?
Anni: This is a tricky one…at the moment it must be Organic Burst Wheatgrass, I’ve been using it so much for green smoothie bowls lately. It has a powerful cleansing effect on the body and has fiber + many beneficial vitamins, minerals and enzymes in a very concentrated form. I prefer powdered wheatgrass as it blends easily and gives a nice, fresh taste to dishes.
Thank you Anni! We’re feeling inspired to go and find some of those Nordic berries and recreate one your bowls!
Follow Anni on Instagram @anniskk and https://blueberryboost.com. Discover DATE+KALE on www.dateandkale.com