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Food & Drink
In little over a decade, Denmark has gone from dining dowager to culinary
darling. New Nordic cuisine continues to wow food critics and foodies alike,
while Danish classics are enjoying resurgent popularity and modern inter-
pretations. Copenhagen is home to the world's number-one restaurant
( Noma , taking top spot in the S Pellegrino World's 50 Best Restaurants rank-
ings in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2014) and no less than 15 Michelin-starred res-
taurants; a record-breaking number for the city. Word is spreading: Denmark
has produce to be proud of, and chefs with the training and skills to make the
most of it. Old recipes are being rediscovered and interest in traditional food
culture continues to soar. The result is an ever-evolving culinary landscape,
ripe for exploration.
New Nordic Innovation
Despite some claims of overexposure, Denmark's New Nordic cuisine continues to thrill
food critics, editors, bloggers and general gluttons across the globe.
The cuisine itself stems from 2004, when Nordic chefs attending a food symposium in
Copenhagen created a 10-point manifesto defining the cuisine's aims. According to the
manifesto, New Nordic cuisine is defined by seasonality, sustainability, local ingredients
and produce, and the use of Nordic cooking methods to create a cuisine that originally and
distinctly reflects Scandinavian culture, geography and history.
The movement has thrown the spotlight on Denmark's fantastic raw ingredients, from ex-
cellent pork products, beef, game and seafood, to root vegetables, wild berries and herbs. It
also serves as a showcase for rarer ingredients from the wider Nordic region, among them
Greenlandic musk ox, horse mussels from the Faroe Islands, obscure berries from Finland,
and truffles from the Swedish island of Gotland.
The world's most famous New Nordic restaurant remains Noma, where owner-chef René
Redzepi eschews all nonindigenous produce in his creations, including olive oil and toma-
toes. He plays with modest, often-overlooked ingredients and consults food historians, dig-
ging up long-lost traditions. Famously, he also forages in the wilderness for herbs and
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