There were more titles I could have given to this particular post, as the experience I’m talking about got me thinking “This I would’ve never seen back home”. Seen, heard, tasted… And imagine I’m talking of a company visit.
Koppert Cress is the name. And even if you’re Dutch it’s quite likely that the name doesn’t sound that familiar. They’re basically running a farm… but a more special one (don’t get your hopes up, it’s not about marijuana – and yes, I can hear your inner voice going “Booooo!”). Well, they grow and sell cresses, which are plants…very very young plants. And they have a rather large variety of them. At this point I guess it’s normal to think “what could you do with them and why is all this relevant?”
First of all, the Koppert Cress products have FLAVOUR. You take a bite of some weird looking type of grass, and surprise! You get a good taste of radish. Or oyster. Or wasabi. There were so many flavors, and we didn’t even get to try them all out – but the ones we did were plenty. They are obviously used in cooking, but their Forté is that they have a lot of flavor in a small quantity, so they are a nice surprise for taste buds.
Secondly, we were there on a company visit, learning about innovation and entrepreneurship (hence the Innovative Entrepreneurship course title hehe). And much to our surprise (cause I was NOT the only one who got a lot more than he/she expected), there was a lot to learn from this company and the architect of the business – Mr. Rob Baan. From the business model and supply chain to business growth and expansion. From handling guests to giving awesome presentations and keeping the ‘crowd’ alert. I admit, Mr. Baan had more than a little help from his products, which he delighted us with, but his overall performance would still have been well above average without them.

We got the senior executive of a multi-million company to talk about how he built it. We got to see the premises. We got to taste ‘electricity’ and ‘autumn’ just by eating a small plant … (and by that I mean we ate something – really small – that made use feel like we put our tongue on a 9V battery… or ate another thing that somehow tapped into the other senses and made it smell and taste like autumn… it’s weird but you should try it for yourself, I think it was the Tahoon® Cress). Aaand we got to talk to other people in the class, because I think as we switch courses it’s more difficult to build relationships with other students.
I really like this course so far, and the way it’s been going is what I expected from the mighty Erasmus University and RSM.
PS: The green thing in the last pic is not grass…it tastes like garlic. While the red/blue lights are not disco lights, but actually one example of innovation used by the company! Do visit http://greatbritain.koppertcress.com/content/cressformation-2#preview and watch the video to understand more