Young British Foodies: Ole Hansen

Name: Ole Hansen
Age: 31

What do you enjoy the most about what you do?
There is something quite humble about it. If you do a job well, people start to trust you and you build up a relationship with your customer and that’s quite beautiful. That’s what appealed to me about salmon smoking. It’s a very simple thing but a very human thing.

Did you always want to follow in the family tradition?
I studied sound art because originally I wanted to become a sound artist but it’s difficult to make a steady income from this. I’ve done loads of different things in my life, but in the end I wanted to make something that had a real value to it and was something that other people could value.

Would you consider supplying the supermarkets?
No. I want to stay small and supply small independent shops. When you deal with the supermarkets, first of all you’re degrading your product and secondly you need a huge factory and then it becomes part of what I’m trying to escape. I’m not going to trade the beautiful things that I try to create in my life for the sake of pure profit.

What’s behind the growth of the YBF movement?
The economic downturn stimulates people to do something. People are sick of the 1990s tackiness of things - they want something that is real, something with emotion. That’s why I recreated the family business because it’s something that I loved so much in my For more details about the YBF movement visit childhood.