Paper short abstract:

At the Danish restaurant noma, Danish culture is reduced to the essence of Nordic gastronomic tradition. An innovative chef looks to the past and the future and creates something new and unique. His interpretation of Danishness in the context of the Nordic kitchen is served on a plate. Through looking at a tentative three-course menu, I comment on contemporary cultural heritage making and the importance of time, timing and trends. At noma cultural heritage is promoted by recognizing its immediacy beyond a mere static representation of an idyllic past. Bon appétit.

Paper long abstract:

In the kitchen of the Danish restaurant noma, Danish culture is boiled down to the essence of Nordic gastronomic tradition. At noma the innovative cultural ambassador and chef, René Redzepi, is both looking to the past and into the future and creating something new and unique. His way of interpreting Danishness in the context of the Nordic kitchen is served on a plate to the true modern foodie.

In this project I look at how Danish cultural heritage is negotiated in an actual Danish setting and instead of the visual aspect of culture I have focused on a multisensory medium of performance: food.

The noma chef is cooking according to the Ten Commandments from the pan-Scandinavian manifesto containing the new rules of the Nordic kitchen, which was established in 2004. In 2005 the Nordic governments decided to support the manifesto establishing the New Nordic Food Project (http://www.nynordiskmad.org

My work about negotiating Danish cultural heritage within a Danish setting is based on fieldwork at noma. My focus is on the aspects of time, timing and trend specific to the issue of foodways, and more general in the issue of the business of cultural heritage.