When it comes to following her passion, Hilda Hellström is quite the traveller. From Gothenburg, her hometown, design brought her first to Barcelona, then to Copenhagen, Stockholm, and now London, where she's finally settled.

That's where we met her, in her studio in the eastern part of the city. Despite the studio's “austere kitchen”, as Hilda describes it, the crafty designer has prepared a delicious Winter Salad along with a special treat, Mango Lassi.

AC: Is there something in particular that keeps design and food related?

HH: Oh, that is difficult to answer as design is such a wide concept with some very pragmatic and some very sensory approaches to it. But how I see it, to be good at both design and food you have to have a certain level of sensitivity and responsiveness to what you engage with.

AC: What do you like about food and cooking?

HH: Mostly I like eating it! But when it comes to cooking, I like exploring different combinations of taste and texture and how to balance it in an interesting way. I’m very particular when it comes to proportions between different foods too. This also includes what I eat from, so the size and shape of cups, glasses, plates, bowls, etc is very important. To me it’s very intuitive, like music—either I like it or I don’t. Though some tastes can grow on you, like coffee or classical music as a child. Perhaps it’s me being bad at verbalizing about food but I really like how it’s quite difficult to put into words why some things work and some don't.

AC: Where do you buy your food in London?

HH: It depends on what I want to get. Here in east London there are many small good delis and green grocers, you just have to know which one is good for what. I rarely eat meat but my brother-in-law goes to the Argentinian butcher on Mare Street. There is a good organic green grocer on Roman Road, I go to La Bouche on Broadway Market for cheese and for wine The Bottle Apostle in Victoria Park Village. On Ocado online you can get some Swedish food too. Compared to back home the food prices here in London are very reasonable.

AC: Tell us your secret recipe.

HH: As we're here in the austere kitchen in my studio I'm going to make a simple warm winter salad based on kale. You could also have some pasta with this but I don't eat wheat. Mango is my favorite food, so with the salad I'm serving a mango lassi.

Winter Salad

- A big bunch of kale (shrinks remarkably when heated)

- Fennel

- A bunch of tender stem broccoli

- Beetroots

- Parmesan

- Pumpkin seeds

- Thyme

Slice up the fennel and beetroot. Take away the stem on the kale leaves and chop it up into good sizes. Steam or boil the beetroot and broccoli while you fry the fennel and kale in a pan with olive oil. In the meantime, roast the pumpkin seeds and grate parmesan. When the beetroot and broccoli is done, mix them into the fennel and kale in the pan, sprinkle with quite a lot parmesan and mix briefly so that the cheese blends into the whole salad. Serve in a bowl with the seeds and the thyme on top.

Takes about 15 minutes to make.

Mango Lassi

- 4 small alphonso mangos

- 250 g thick yoghurt

- Milk

- Honey

- Lime

- Mint

Peal and cut the mangos and put it in a vessel together with the yoghurt and mix. Add honey to your taste and milk until it reaches a good texture. Pour into a glass and garnish with mint. Serve with a slice of lime to squeeze on top.

***

Interview by Fabiana Fierotti

Photography and Video by Tanya Houghton

About Alla Carta magazine: Alla Carta approaches food as an incentive to take a bite of diverse cultural phenomena. We are intrigued by the meal’s convivial capacity, and have found food to be an essential element for sharing thoughts, opinions and creative ideas.