FREEMASONS’ HALL, LONDON
FRIDAY 12 NOVEMBER 2010
To celebrate the launch of the first major cookery book by René Redzepi, Noma; Time and Place in Nordic Cuisine, Phaidon Press has announced an exclusive evening event, held in partnership with The Danish Embassy at the Freemasons’ Hall.
The S.Pellegrino World’s Best Restaurant’s chef will talk about the inspiration and philosophy behind his innovative Nordic cuisine and restaurant, Noma, and his unprecedented rise in the culinary world. The event will include a special screening of footage of Rene at Noma.
Doors open at 17.30 for 18.30. Tickets are on sale now from See Tickets, priced at £38, which include a free copy of the book (RRP £19.95; to be collected on the night from 17.30), or priced at £15, for the ticket only. All tickets may be subject to subject to a booking fee and postage. The event will be reserved seating and will run for approximately 90 minutes. The talk will be followed by a book signing by the chef.
Further information:
Phaidon is pleased to announce the publication of NOMA: TIME AND PLACE IN NORDIC CUISINE (Hardback, £35.00, 9th October 2010) an exclusive insight into the food, philosophy and creativity of René Redzepi and his innovative Nordic restaurant, Noma. The book offers the first behind the scenes look at Noma, featuring over 90 original recipes, and 200 new specially commissioned colour photographs of the dishes, unique ingredients, local suppliers and beautiful landscapes of the Nordic region.
NOMA begins with a foreword by the Danish artist Olafur Eliasson, who frequents the restaurant, followed by an introduction by Danish food journalist Rune Skyum-Nielsen. The book then reveals exclusive excerpts from Redzepi’s diary from the period leading up to the opening of the restaurant in 2003. In the diary, he describes his “first voyage of discovery in search of new produce” when he visited the Faroe Islands, Iceland and Greenland, and tasted sea-buckthorn, crowberries, raw horse mussel, reindeer, roseroot, and much more, for the first time.
NOMA also features essays describing Redzepi’s relationship with nine of the restaurant’s closest collaborators and local producers, including Susanne Grefberg of Gotland, Sweden (berries, Swedish Blue ducks, wild truffles) and Tag Ronne from Hereskovkby, Denmark (birch sap, bark, rowan shoots). There are sixty to seventy people in their network of suppliers—from hobby farmers and growers to foragers and fisherman—that Noma works with across Scandinavia.
Redzepi is one of the food world’s great recent success stories. Bringing “new Nordic” cuisine to the world stage, Redzepi represents a new generation of young chefs, shaking the foundations of haute cuisine. Before opening Noma in 2003, Redzepi worked at two previous World’s Best Restaurant Winners, the restaurants el Bulli and The French Laundry, but exceptional technique is not the only thing getting him noticed, it’s an uncompromising approach to local ingredients.
Nothing goes on a plate at Noma, which is set in an old 18th Century shipping warehouse in the Copenhagen harbor, unless it comes from the Nordic region. Culinary basics like olive oil, olives, garlic, and various common herbs are absent from Noma’s menus. Instead, Redzepi’s dishes showcase strictly seasonal ingredients indigenous to Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Demark, Greenland or Finland: sweet green strawberries and bulrushes; axelberry shoots and wild ground juniper; raw Scandinavian shrimp, musk ox and pickled quail’s eggs; flowers harvested from the seashore and wood sorrel that Redzepi foraged from nearby woodlands.
The 200 full-page colour photographs featured in NOMA were taken by photographer Ditte Isager especially for the book, and transport readers to the restaurant and to the unique harsh but fertile natural Nordic environment. The images are organised organically by color and mood—from white to grey to green and blue and purple to black—and include photos of all 90 recipes, including Bouillon of Steamed Birchwood, Chanterelles and Fresh Hazelnut; Milk Skin and Salsify, Rapeseed and Truffle Puree; Dover Sole and Green Strawberries, Beach Cabbage and New Potatoes; Blueberries Surrounded by Their Natural Environment; Oxtail and Dark Beer, Apple and Jerusalem Artichoke; and King Crab and Leek in Ashes.
René Redzepi has heightened the culinary philosophy of seasonally and regionally sourced sustainable ingredients to an unprecedented level, and in doing so has created an utterly delicious and unique cuisine.
About The Author
- Rene Redzepi by Anders Birch
René Redzepi has been widely credited with re-inventing Nordic cuisine. After cooking under both Ferran Adria at Thomas Keller at The French Laundry, Redzepi became head chef and co-founder of Noma in 2003, at the age of just 25. Since then he has quickly developed to become one of the world’s most respected chefs, and in the process has shown off an inimitable and innate knowledge of the produce of his Nordic terrior. At the age of just 32, he is just starting to operate at his full powers, and his influence on the food world is only just beginning to be felt. This is the chef at the beginning of a spectacular cuisine.
‘Copenhagen is Culture, Design and the Gastronomic Capital of Scandinavia, less than two hours away from London.
It is a capital that serves up an interesting mix of the past and the innovative creativeness of the present. The city has a new Opera House, a new Concert Hall as well as a new Play House, contributing to Copenhagen’s reputation as outstanding destination for a cultural holiday experience. Denmark has a rich tradition in producing quality, elegant and timeless designs as seen in the works of Arne Jacobsen, famous for his Egg Chair, in the silver jewellery by Georg Jensen and the porcelain by Royal Copenhagen. These are classics that have stood the test of time.
Tags: copenhagen, Denmark, Freemasons Hall, noma, rene redzepi
I will need to check where I can buy Rene’s book here in Canada. I guess that ordering it online would be the way to go. The price tag is perfect: not pricey at all. Looking forward to read his book.
I wish I’d paid more attention to the main one Time Offers presented initially when i first logged to your blog.