Tara Stevens discovers a new movement of Nordic chefs and producers promoting a simpler, more natural approach to food
Europe – particularly Spain – has dominated the headlines in terms of culinary greatness. But a movement called ‘New Nordic’, which started nearly three years ago in Copenhagen, is gearing up to step into the spotlight. It’s time for the culinary world to take notice.
The New Nordic Symposium brings together chefs and food and beverage producers from all over Scandinavia and the Nordic regions to form a new voice of culinary might that celebrates the simple things in food and life. In essence, the movement takes a more focused look at what’s available in this particular part of the world. It’s about the use of wild ingredients, the restoration of traditional recipes and a fundamental appreciation of the bounty of the North.
All this is the brain-child of Danish gastronomic entrepreneur Claus Meyer. He is, if you like, the godfather of New Nordic. “It used to be that every new restaurant that opened in Copenhagen was French or Italian,” he explains. “Nobody was doing Nordic and I saw huge potential in that. We have some of the best, most pure products on earth, and we need to start harnessing them.”
Meyer’s career has spanned several niches – from television chef to cookery school director to business team-building lothario to restaurateur – and, more recently, deli owner and farmer, which brings some of these products to the fore.
“As chefs we are no better than the products,” Meyer continues. “What is fantastic about home-grown produce from Nordic countries is the light and the radical changes of temperature you get between night and day. This combination stresses plants and that creates very complex flavours along the entire food chain, not just in our fruits and vegetables but also in terms of milk, meat and fish.”
One can’t help getting caught up in Meyer’s enthusiasm and the Symposium is clearly working towards inspiring both cooks and producers to believe in what they already have close at hand. Often, the very thing that is right under your nose is the thing that matters most. In the case of Nordic countries, potent raw materials form the basis of a vibrant and exciting new cuisine.
This means potatoes that taste of a rich and ancient earth, delicately perfumed celeriac, beetroot as black as night and salsify (the root vegetable) which is as crisp as ice. These are all slowly replacing the bullet-hard, insipidly flavoured greenhouse-grown tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella and other, more ‘glamorous’ restaurant cuisines that have traditionally been favoured by the region’s top chefs.
And, in turn, the great and the good of the Nordic kitchen are getting their hands dirty. Chefs are collecting rare forest herbs at first light and hunting game themselves. Pig farmers are producing Skagen ham based on similar methods to Spanish jamón. Fishermen harvest sweet Danish prawns in the summer and plunder the Arctic depths for halibut by dog sled. Meyer himself is growing crisp, juicy apples for organic cider, the world-famous Danish company Carlsberg is brewing fresh, unpasteurised beers, and local landowners on the tiny island of Bornholm are planting their first vines.
In many ways it’s about a return to a more basic way of life, an antidote to high-speed modern life and a purer and simpler form of farming and working with food. So it’s out with over-processing, chemical preservatives and molecular gastronomy and in with ancient preservation methods like salting and smoking.
Nearly three years on from when it started and the movement is gaining momentum with representatives from Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and others joining the cause.
Even the world’s top chefs are rallying to their cry. “If Spain was the new France in culinary terms, then Nordic must surely be the new Spain,” says Ferran Adrià of El Bulli, twice voted the best restaurant in the world by Restaurant magazine. And if Adrià is right, the gastronomic globetrotters will soon be booking their next flight.
Where to eat Nordic
Madeleines Madteater Drechselsgade 10, Copenhagen, tel.
(0)3314 0555, www.madeleines.dk
Madeleines throws you for a loop by taking a completely different approach to food and eating, turning it into an art form in the literal sense. You are challenged every step of the way, not just in terms of what you’re eating, but how you are eating and appreciating it, with many of the dishes based around local ingredients. Diners at Madeleines’ secret location – just outside Copenhagen – may be blindfolded for their first course, asked to groove to the rhythm of the music for their main, and treated to an all out assault on the senses at a grown-up children’s tea party complete with lashings of booze for dessert. Performances change frequently, offering a fresh, intellectual perspective on culinary norms.
Meyers Deli Gammel Kongevej 107, Frederiksberg/Kongens Nytorv 13, Copenhagen, tel. (0)3325 4595
From the godfather of the New Nordic Symposium, Claus Meyer’s deli takes its influence from the treasure trove style gourmet stores of New York City. It entices customers with the irresistible aromas of freshly-baked bread and piping-hot coffee, Nordic style. On the shelves you’ll find old-fashioned pats of butter from local dairies, rare Danish cheeses, lingonberry jam from Sweden and home-cured bacon. You’ll never want to shop in a supermarket again.
Noma Strandgade 93, Copenhagen, tel. (0)3296 3297, www.noma.dk
This is perhaps the brightest star in the New Nordic constellation, with Chef Rene Redzepi guiding the ship and Meyer’s business hand on deck. Housed in the Nordic Cultural Houses, Noma offers exclusively Nordic dishes that both surprise and delight jaded palettes. “There’s so much to explore and discover,” Redzepi says. “We’re like children.” This playfulness extends to the menus too: hot bread served with herb-jewelled duck fat in felt cushions, local beef tartare studded with crisp rye croutons and smeared with tarragon cream that you eat with your fingers, and Greenlandic snow crab with a side of Swedish truffle-infused mayo. It even comes with a Michelin star.
Restaurant Koefoed Landgreven 3, Copenhagen, tel. (0)5648 2224, www.restaurant-koefoed.dk
Chef Jonas Harlfeldt’s cosy eaterie is the only restaurant in Copenhagen that focuses on the region of Bornholm, a rugged island off the coastline of Denmark. Some call it the ‘Tuscany of the North’, and with good cause. It has more sunshine than anywhere else in the country, allowing for an unusual natural pantry including wild figs, sycamore berries, deeply flavourful lamb and chicken and award-winning cheeses. Lunch is the best time to go in terms of savouring traditional dishes with a twist, such as the tongue-puckering salt-fried herring served with mustard dressing, beetroot and shots of honeyed aquavit, and truffled scrambled eggs with local smoked wild salmon. The simple things don’t come any better.
La Nouvelle Cuisine du Nord
La nouvelle cuisine nordique est un mouvement culinaire apparu il y a à peine trois ans à Copenhague, mais qui a pris une telle vitesse qu’il explose aujourd’hui sur une scène beaucoup plus vaste. Cette tendance consiste à réunir des chefs et des producteurs du secteur agroalimentaire, venus de toute la Scandinavie et des autres régions nordiques. Ensemble, ils forment un nouveau courant gastronomique axé sur la valorisation des choses simples, dans la cuisine comme dans la vie.
Essentiellement, ce nouveau mouvement d’échanges s’attache à prôner les produits locaux, en provenance de cette partie du monde. Il est ici question d’ingrédients sauvages, de redécouverte des traditions et d’un réveil fondamental des saveurs particulières du nord. On en doit la paternité spirituelle au chef de file de la gastronomie danoise Claus Meyer, le parrain en quelque sorte du renouveau du goût nordique. “Jusqu’à présent tous les nouveaux restaurants qui ouvraient à Copenhague étaient basés sur le modèle français ou italien” souligne-t-il. “On ne proposait plus de cuisine scandinave, et c’est là que j’ai trouvé un énorme potentiel. Nous disposons de produits parmi les meilleurs et les plus sains au monde, et nous voulons recommencer à les mettre en oeuvre dans nos plats”.
Où manger de la cuisine nordique à Copenhague?
Madeleines Madteater (madeleines.dk) propose une approche radicalement différente des aliments et de la cuisine, l’élevant littéralement au niveau d’une pure forme d’art. Meyers Deli (tel. +45 (0)3296 3297). l’épicerie fine de Claus Meyer tire son influence du style hautement raffiné des magasins pour gourmets de New-York. Noma (noma.dk) est peut-être l’étoile la plus brillante de la constellation du renouveau nordique, avec aux commandes le chef Rene Redzepi assisté de Claus Meyer pour la gestion. Restaurant Koefoed (restaurant-koefoed.dk) est actuellement le seul restaurant de Copenhagen qui met l’accent sur la cuisine d’une région particulière: Bornholm, une île rude au large de la côte danoise.
Nordic tafelen
“New Nordic Food” is een culinaire beweging die zo’n drie jaar geleden in Kopenhagen begon, maar nu forse uitbreiding kent. Chefs en dranken- en voedingsfabrikanten van over heel Scandinavië laten een nieuwe culinaire wind waaien, waarbij eenvoudig eten en leven centraal staan.
De beweging gaat ervan uit dat men weer de nadruk moet leggen op Scandinavische streekproducten. Ze promoot producten uit het wild, eerherstel voor traditionele bereidingen en eerbied voor wat het Hoge Noorden te bieden heeft.
New Nordic is het geesteskind van de Deense gastronoom en ondernemer Claus Meyer. “Er was een tijd dat elke nieuwe zaak in Kopenhagen koos voor de Franse of Italiaanse keuken”, verklaart hij. “Niemand had nog oog voor onze eigen tradities, en ik zag daar het potentieel van in. Wij beschikken over enkele van de beste en puurste producten op aarde, en die verdienen zeker een plaats op onze tafel.”
Waar Nordic tafelen in Kopenhagen?
Madeleines Madteater (madeleines.dk) heeft een eigen kijk op eten en drinken en vormt het om tot kunst, in de letterlijke zin van het woord. Meyers Deli (tel. +45 (0)3296 3297). Claus Meyers delicatessenwinkel doet denken aan de fijnproeverswinkels van New York City. Noma (noma.dk) is mogelijk de helderste ster aan het New Nordic-firmament, met chef Rene Redzepi aan het culinaire roer, en Meyer die de zaak runt. Restaurant Koefoed (restaurant-koefoed.dk) is momenteel het enige Kopenhaagse restaurant dat de nadruk legt op één specifieke regio: Bornholm, een ruig eiland ver buiten de Deense kust.
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