Once a kingdom of potatoes and pigs, Denmark is a gastronomic Mecca

Barely non-existent twenty years ago, Danish haute cuisine has made Copenhagen the new Mecca of the gastronomy, with two restaurants topping the list of best restaurants in the world and Michelin stars at the top.

With just six million inhabitants, this kingdom exposed to the strong winds of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea had a mediocre gastronomy with potatoes as the main ingredient and very dependent on its pig industry.

Now, its chefs occupy the first and second places of the 50 best restaurants of the British magazine Restaurant: the famous chef René Redzepi, with his prestigious, and Rasmus Kofoed at the head of the Geranium.

“Twenty years ago there was nothing when René Redzepi began to reinvent Nordic cuisine, concentrating on local and ethical dishes,” says Szilvia Gyimóthy, professor of marketing at Copenhagen Business School. “He was totally unique and now it is he who sets the tone,” he says.

Perhaps it is the absence of the great gastronomic legacy of the sunny countries of southern Europe that has favored this success and has allowed unfettered creativity to flow.

“There are many restaurants in the world where chefs build on what has already been done, they are not as creative,” explains Bent Christensen, founder of the Den Danske Spiseguide food guide, launched in 1978.

“René Redzepi and Rasmus Kofoed are never satisfied,” he says.

For him, the Danish exception lies both in the emergence of this young gastronomic scene and in the unsuspected advantages of the rugged geography and cold local climate.

“It does not matter in which place of Denmark, but you are always 40 kilometers or less from the sea. That’s great for fish, ”he says.

“And if there is one good thing about our climate, it is that we really have four seasons and vegetables can ripen slowly,” he adds.

“Northern coconut”

The letters are temporary and honor local peculiarities, such as the cabbage christened by Redzepi as “Northern coconut”.

Geranium proposes a three-hour immersion in an interpretation of the “autumn universe”, in which tupinambos, grilled lobsters with sea buckthorn or duck parade.

The Noma has now just turned the page to its summer menu, with an incredible saffron caramel candle in which the wick of the candle was made of grated walnut and soaked in cardamom oil.

Devoted to fermentation – with which he can make edible pine cones – and faithful to local produce, Redzepi has constantly managed to reinvent himself, Gyimóthy says.

“He remains engaged in debates about food, climate, working conditions, parity. He really uses his position to promote a social agenda, ”he says.

Shortly after obtaining – finally for many – its third Michelin star in September, the Noma on Tuesday ousted the French Mirazur of the Italian-Argentine Mauro Colagreco from the first position of the list of the magazine Restaurant.

It was not a new title, since he already held it four times in 2010.

Although his creations are reserved for the wealthiest palates – the menu without drinks costs 2,800 crowns (380 euros, US $ 435) -, his influence has caused a change of mentality in the population.

“It is still a very elitist product but its success has an impact on the way the average Danish thinks about their diet,” says Gyimóthy, assuring that the shopping basket of the ordinary citizen has evolved.

The impact is also evident in the world of restoration. “The Danes used to travel for gastronomy. Now it’s the other way around, people come to Denmark, ”says Christensen.

According to VisitDenmark, the Danish tourism promotion agency, 38% of foreign tourists who came to Copenhagen in 2019 did so for gastronomic reasons.