Noma is more than a restaurant, René Redzepi’s restaurant has changed the rules of the game in world cuisine since its opening twenty years ago. Restaurants that opened the 21st century were looking for ways to update themselves. Some went to molecular cuisine, others played with the idea of French cuisine (considered the flag of the best cuisine in the world) but other rules. Then Redzepi came with Noma.
Noma put New Scandinavian cuisine on the map, transformed the idea of what finne dining could be, put Copenhagen on the world gastronomic map, and Denmark became a place of pilgrimage for those who want to understand what it is. the best restaurant in the world.
There is no other place like Noma. The restaurant has won first place as the best in the world several times. In fact, he won so much that he is no longer eligible and now first place goes to Geranuim, another must-have from Copenhagen. Therefore, the news that Noma will be closing its doors for good and regular service as an established restaurant deals a huge blow to the food world.
According to Redzepi, having a staff of 100 at Noma is unsustainable. For decades, high-quality food relied on long working hours and labor exploitation; this was something Redzepi himself and other chefs accepted as part of a culture that promotes the ultimate experience versus working people in the restaurant. Beyond the salary gap between the cook and other experienced employees, there is the use of undocumented workers or interns who work 12 hours unpaid for the “learning opportunity” only. That’s why in October Noma began paying all unpaid employees, which added $50,000 a month to costs.
According to René RedzepJoyful:
We have to completely rethink the industry. This is very difficult and we need to work in a different way.
Closing the doors of the world’s best restaurant, where people are planning their vacation in Europe just so they can take in a little over 4 hours of experience in Noma, means the world of fine cuisine is in for the real deal. 21st century Cooking is one of our greatest human passions, but for a long time chefs and businessmen have set aside their most important collaborators to achieve prestige and excellence.
Now the best chef in the world has decided that his restaurant is unsustainable and is trying to make things better. Noma will remain open until the end of 2024, so it’s still possible (albeit almost impossible) to get a table before it closes. From now on, it will continue to innovate the new Scandinavian cuisine and remain a gastronomic laboratory that will open pop-ups similar to the one that will take place in Tokyo this year, in addition to spending a short season in central Denmark.
In this next phase, we will continue to travel and find new ways to share our work. Is there a place in the world we should go to learn? Then we will make a noma popup. Once we’ve gathered enough new ideas and flavors, we’ll have a season in Copenhagen. Serving guests will continue to be part of who we are, but being a restaurant will no longer define us. Instead, we will spend most of our time exploring new projects and developing many more ideas and products.
The closure of Noma heralds a painful but necessary major change in the industry.
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