The Noma of Copenhagen, starred restaurant four times elected the best in the world, many years ago talking about himself, attracting the attention of the international press. At the center of the media interest is its reinvented Nordic cuisine, its authorial experiments, the waiting lists of months, but also its continuous changes, including a closing period in 2016 and the rebirth in 2018 in a new home with the name Noma 2.0 and an original annual culinary calendar distinguished in three seasons.
Who knows the Noma, therefore, knows that surprises are always around the corner.
On the occasion of the recent promotional tour for the book-recipe book Foundations of Flavor: The Noma Guide to Fermentation on 'fermentation art, lo chef René Redzepi has indeed declared that, by virtue of the excellent results obtained with vegetable-based dishes using this technique, does not rule out that tomorrow the restaurant can become a vegetarian.

Less animal proteins, more fermented vegetables

For over a year at Noma there has been a remarkable reduction of animal proteins served. To influence this choice the chef's willingness to give more space to the vegetable proposals, proposing for example an entirely vegetarian menu in the season that went from May to September 2018. The other determining factor is the growing importance that the fermentation technique is taking in the restaurant kitchen, so much so that almost every course of about twenty that make up the seasonal menus, presents something fermented. Recently, Redzepi has stated that this preparation is now the most important element in Noma's cooking and that the chefs love to visit the Danish forests in search of wild food and in particular of mushrooms, berries and seasonal vegetables to be fermented in their laboratory. As reiterated by the chef in his recent publication, this process is generally associated with the simple production of pickles in brine or yogurt, whereas it should be considered as "a pot of earthenware", which uses bacteria instead of heat; an ancient process of conservation that improves the nutritional characteristics of food and deserves to be known or rediscovered.

A possible vegetarian future for the Noma

Redzepi, during an interview for the "Washington Post", said that his best recipe based on fermented vegetables, once present in the menu of the Noma, consisted of a grilled cabbage leaf just spread with a sauce made of broken yellow peas (miso) and seasoned with parsley oil; a seemingly simple dish, but with an amazing taste. According to the chef the fermentation of vegetables can be the key to giving them a special flavor, that characterization and that "meaty" taste that often lacks vegetarian cooking.
Finally, Redzepi sees the fermentation as a possible way to a climate change, towards a more natural and sustainable type of food that can induce people to eat more vegetables and reduce the environmental impact of meat consumption.

All that remains is to see what the future of the Noma will reserve and whether this prospect of turning the famous restaurant towards an exclusively vegetarian and vegan menu will really emerge.

Photo: Vegetarian dish (Noma Studio Sarah Lou)
Photo: Vegetable dish with fermented Noma sauce (Lou Stejskal Flikr)

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