Eating in Scandinavia: Slow Food and Plant-Forward Menu Options
My piece for SCMP after my last Scandinavia gastronomy trip in January eating in Sweden and Denmark, featuring two Michelin stars Faviken that sadly closes the end of the year and three Michelin stars Geranium.
Noma was my least favourite of the restaurants I visited and it certainly didn’t live up to its hype.
One of the highlights was the Gasoline burgers in Copenhagen. I still think about it.
Slow Food in the nordic
While Slow Food was a movement that was created and gained traction in the 1980s as a response to Fast Food Culture, the Nordics continued their ways and practices for living and thriving, as they continue with local food traditions, sustainable agriculture and supporting small-scale farmers and local producers – it really only became a thing when chef Redzepi of Noma made it a PR angle to market Nordic cuisine on the International stage.
The Nordic countries include Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden which have a rich food culture deeply connected to its landscape and seasons.
New Nordic food Manifesto
Launched in 2004, this manifesto set out to outline and define the vision for Nordic cuisine based on purity, simplicity and seasonality. It focuses on the use of traditional Nordic ingredients such as fish, berries, game and wild herbs – most of which you see in the Michelin starred fine dining restaurants in the region.
The Nordic slow food movement aims to foster a sense of cultural identity through food, sharing communal meals, the stories and provenance of the food they eat and connecting with local farmers and producers. Embracing the principles of slow food, the Nordic region celebrates a food system that’s delicious and environmentally sustainable- not to mention really good for health as well!
