ANTWERP: As René Redzepi walked into the auditorium of the Flanders Meeting and Convention Centre in Antwerp he was anxious. Not because there was a possibility that he could end up on the podium of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list for the fifth (and last) time but rather because events like these have not happened for many months now and restaurants in part of the world are still struggling with COVID-19 outbreaks. He had come prepared with a speech even if he said he was not aware that his team would clinch the top spot in the list. “Given we were second last year, we had to be prepared,” he said. Eleven years since he clinched the first title for Noma in 2010 he attributes that success not to his creativity or to his leadership but to the 79 members of the team who work to make it happen. On stage, he paid tribute to the members of the team who could not be present in Antwerp as they were serving guests at the restaurant in Copenhagen. “A lot of things passed through my … [Read more...]
Why everyone rooted for Noma and Redzepi
They say life is not about reaching the destination but rather about the journey. So it must have felt ironic for René Redzepi and his team to clinch a third Michelin star that has been eluding them for the past years in what was probably been the most difficult year for the restaurant. Social media was on fire as the food world applauded a decision that for many has come way too late. Noma’s photo of the three Michelin stars had over 100,000 likes and over 4,000 comments congratulating the restaurant. Instagram stories were on fire as was my Facebook feed. Rarely has there been such accolades and genuine celebration for a chef and restaurant. The last one that comes to mind was Mauro Colagreco of Restaurant Mirazur in France. Every year, pundits awaited the announcement thinking this would be Noma and Redzepi’s year only to be left wondering what the restaurant needed to change to finally clinch the most important accolade in the world of gastronomy. Not that Redzepi and … [Read more...]
Massimo Bottura, René Redzepi raise awareness on food waste – 40 per cent of all food produced wasted
Two of the world's greatest chefs Italian Massimo Bottura of Osteria Francescana and René Redzepi of Noma both raised the issue of food waste during their one hour presentations at the Dutch avant-garde cuisine festival in Zwolle on 14 and 15 September 2014. When the Italian chef took the stage on Sunday evening in the Netherlands he called for action to reduce food waste. 1,300,000,000 tonnes of food is wasted each year (1.3 billion tonnes). "Is it possible that we can waste so much? Is this sustainable?" he asked. "I think it is not," Bottura said to large applause. Redzepi of Noma said on Monday that food waste was a horrific thing which needed to be tackled. "40 per cent of all the food that is produced is wasted. We have an obsession with prettiness which makes us abhor a crooked carrot or vegetable. One of the tasks we set ourselves was to work not only to find new pillars of cuisine but also to ferment our way out of food waste. Waste nothing is the catalyst to our … [Read more...]
Chefs (R)evolution finale – a feast of creativity and inspiration
The second and last day of Chef's (R)evolution was a great finale to the Dutch avant-garde cuisine festival. Organised by Jonnie and Therese Boer of De Librije together with publisher Port Culinaire, yesterday's line-up was a spectacular array of creative chefs from Noma's Rene Redzepi's to Alinea's Grant Achatz, Bjorn Frantzen, Sang-Hoon Degeimbre and Spanish Quique Dacosta. Redzepi kickstarted the day with a brilliant presentation of some of the dishes that are currently being prepared at Noma, the world's number one restaurant in the World's Top 50 San Pellegrino list. He spoke about the difficulty of preserving food when they had opened the restaurant 11 years ago as they faced a terrible winter and went on to speak about how this had led them to study the art of fermentation. Like Massimo Bottura the previous day, Redzepi spoke about the importance of eliminating food waste saying that this is one of the greatest problems and challenges facing the food industry. He said it is … [Read more...]
Rene Redzepi (Noma) – breaking new ground
36-year-old Rene Redzepi is on top of the culinary world again after regaining top spot for his restaurant Noma in the World's 50 best restaurants. Yesterday he was in Gent to present his new book A Work in Progress which is part journal, part recipe book and a flick book. He gave an inspirational talk while reading parts of his journal which recounts the day-to-day life at Noma. I went thanks to our dear friends from Gent, Anna and Marteen of Villa Bardon. The stress to get there was probably worse than manning a station on a busy evening in a restaurant. The traffic to get out of Brussels was horrendous. Redzepi is one of few chefs who have managed to take food to a level of creativity that can inspire people. These chefs, like Adria, Bottura, Blumenthal and the Roca brothers have broken away from traditions while at the same time going back to the roots. They break taboos or preconceived ideas and perceptions. As he himself says, it would have been unimaginable 10 or 20 … [Read more...]