More than a month into the year of 2019. Only a couple of days into the year of the pig. Seems like a perfect day for reflection and a recap of 2018.
It started with a bang! Samosir, Phu Quoc, Vinh Linh, Lampung and QingXi. Meeting, talking, harvesting, laughing, dreaming and eating with all our pepper family across the southeastern part of Asia. Living in their homes, discussing business, redefining needs. Humbling and inspiring. Getting in touch with our WHY. And our HOW. Experiencing the incredible progress with our farmer communities. Meeting new co-op members. Seeing the real impact we are already having after a few years. True blessings!
We came home to Sweden with new energy and direction. Getting our faces published in the paper. People seeing the potential of what we are doing. Exciting Sichuan pepper tastings with Surfers and Gotland gastronomy week. Getting to know guys behind Bar Agrikultur better and feeling Inspired by their new journey with Krusmyntagården!
Vinh Linh delivery of pepper and spices. Seeing the journey of our main black pepper from quite poor quality to one of the best qualities we have seen on the market. Seeing how we can influence with our demand. How important it is to listen and give attention to our farmers, to let them rediscover the great pride they have their own craft and cultivation.
It also gave us the first batch of incredible turmeric, from our pepper farmers in Vinh Linh. With it we have made a unique, incredibly healthy and tasty Golden Milk with almost all the ingredients coming from the same farmers. Big step!
World premier of The Batak Quest at cinema Bio Rio. A dream come true. Renting a whole cinema, inviting our pepper community and premiering the documentary of our Batak Pepper journey with peppery talks and buzzing food. Big shout out to filmmakers Johan Eriksson, Phillipa Young, the What Took You So Long crew, editor Robin Sällström and music man Robin! Forever grateful! Summer of markets, events and incredible culinary moments with family and friends making all the hard work worth it. The look in the eye of someone actually tasting pepper for the very first time never gets old. The curiosity these tastes awaken in people. The pepper community sharing what magic they have created, how they interpret the flavors through their own style of cooking, transforming dishes and drinks with our pepper.
More and more restaurants joining the quest. Seeing this ecosystem of chefs, business owners, waiters, food lovers, bartenders, taste experts, end users all coming together to support each other, learn from each other, grow with each other. Feeling the greatness of the whole. We finished the year with a bang! The community coming together, helping us out with the preparations of the christmas season. Experimenting with products like oil, spice mixes and new packaging. Never have our products and gifts looked och tasted better!
Lastly we would like to say Thank You! Thank you for buying our pepper. For understanding what we do and why. For all the hurrays, well wishes and support. We are grateful for all the feedback, pictures, videos of people spicing up their lives together with us. We leave 2018 with a strong feeling of stepping into something new. No longer is The Pepper Quest a small project, a demo. It is slowly turning into something very real with great potential and true value.
