"Luxury in the world of gastronomy when we started the journey was all about truffles, foie gras, caviar, hand-ironed table clothes, fine dining for the few," writes Claus Meyer in a personal essay included in our new book Nordic by Nature. “We dreamed of redefining luxury. We felt that humble ingredients and a naked table could somehow represent luxury as well”.
There is a sense of resourcefulness and unconventional creativity at the backbone of Nordic cuisine: in a beautiful but often harsh environment where fruits and vegetables are often scarce, a new generation of Danish chefs are known for living off the land, sea, and coast year round. The summers are short and the winters are long, but these gastronomers pair a taste for creativity with an adventurous spirit that dates back to the Vikings.
“We wanted to emphasize seasonality and restore the link between cooking and nature, and we wanted food to be compatible with healthiness and sustainability,” Meyer concludes. Indeed, the ethos of the new Nordic cuisine is encompassed by the name of the renowned restaurant Meyer opened with chef René Redzepi in 2003: