
Noma's taste of tomorrow: creating the future of food - pmcpinto
http://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2016/03/features/inside-noma-copenhagen
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stevesearer
The last few months I've noticed how many people at the top of their
respective professions put artificial and somewhat arbitrary limitations on
themselves which seems to help creativity flourish.

Rene Redzepi as seen here does a geographic restriction and also was only
vegetarian, though I believe will be adding meat to the menu in the future.

Another chef is Magnus Nillson at Faviken, which is more geographically
isolated and uses much more local items.

In a recent interview I learned that Steven Spielberg used to (maybe still
does) try to artificially restrict the budgets of movies he directed so every
possible thing was not at his disposal.

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macmac
Noma was never vegetarian, but now appears to go in that direction:
[http://www.eater.com/2015/9/14/9324311/rene-redzepi-
closes-n...](http://www.eater.com/2015/9/14/9324311/rene-redzepi-closes-noma-
urban-garden)

~~~
stevesearer
Only seasonally in the future though:

"At the new Noma Redzepi plans to eschew the "predictable progression" of a
tasting menu in favor of a "reverent adherence to seasonality." In the fall,
the menu will focus only on dishes made from wild game and "foraged autumnal
ingredients." In the winter, Noma will transform into a seafood restaurant.
And in the spring and summer where "the world turns green," Redzepi says that
Noma will "become fully vegetarian," with most of the produce coming from the
restaurant's farm."

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rglover
Finishing up René's journal now, great read:
[http://www.amazon.com/Ren%C3%A9-Redzepi-A-Work-
Progress/dp/0...](http://www.amazon.com/Ren%C3%A9-Redzepi-A-Work-
Progress/dp/0714866911)

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skybrian
It's a puff piece about a restaurant. I'm not really seeing how it's different
from other high-end restaurants doing unscalable things to stand out.

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macmac
What is the basis for your assertion that standing out is their motivation, as
opposed to wanting to offer their guests a fantastic culinary experience?

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skybrian
I'm not asserting that. Wired implicitly is with the "future of food"
headline, and by running the story in a technology magazine. Also, whoever
posted it here is implying that it's somehow interesting to hackers or as a
startup. (Otherwise it would make more sense to post it to some other
community devoted to gourmet dining.)

~~~
macmac
Quote: "I'm not really seeing how it's different from other high-end
restaurants doing unscalable things to _stand out_." \- my emphasis.

I did not post this, but from my perspective there are very interesting
parallels between the hacker approach to problem solving and the way noma
approaches cooking.

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seivan
Anthony Bordaine visits Noma in one of his shows on Netflix if you want to see
more, it was alright.

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glossyscr
Sometimes I wish that every article had a short tl;dr at the top.

This post looks great offering awesome pics and an interesting topic but I am
too ADD to read it (and wondering if it's worth the time).

~~~
notahacker
TLDR: Award-winning Danish high-end restaurant specialises in locally sourced
highly-seasonal food, including ingredients which are foraged rather than
farmed; has attached "Food lab" to find and promote innovative ways to use
Scandinavian ingredients, including tasks such as finding out why wood ants
taste like lemongrass and perfecting fermentation techniques.

If reading about high end food preparation makes you salivate it's interesting
enough (and really not that long), but certainly doesn't justify the
ludicrously hyperbolic headline.

Edit: corrected country

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macmac
"ludicrously hyperbolic" \- talk about the pot calling the kettle black.

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notahacker
Do you think the idea that the "future of food" revolves around high end
restaurants putting arbitrary geographic restrictions on food sourcing isn't
ludicrous or isn't hyperbolic? Why not?

~~~
macmac
Noma is much more than its geographic restriction. They experiment with
insects, which are likely to be a important source of protein in the future
and the novel application of preparation method, for instance fermentation.
But the geographic restriction in itself is an important part of the future of
food, in a world where climate change is a an existential threat and
transporting bananas and rice 1000s of kms is not sustainable. Demonstrating
to the world what can be done through local sourcing will be defining for the
future of food.

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jvandonsel
Food prep without hats or hairnets? yum.

~~~
erikpukinskis
Those dishes undergo scrutiny far beyond what would allow a hair to slip in.
They literally inspect every leaf. If a hair falls unnoticed into the food
they are completely failing at their job.

