Cook your own duck egg

Carrot with edible soil

Shallow fried moss with creme fraiche

NOMA, located in Copenhagen, Denmark was voted the best restaurant of 2010. The chef Rene Redzepi has created a unique dining experience using foraged plants, local nordic ingredients and showcasing the ingredients for just that, what they are and where they come from. Above are a few examples of what is served in this restaurant. I am not interested in the three michelin stars, the fame of the restaurant or even what the chef does with molecular gastronomy, but the quote below from his book rings true:

“The courses are arranged so that the ingredients are in keeping with their original habitat- raw and unpretentious. As Rene says, it’s not very meaningful to cut root vegetables into harlequin patterns just to show that the cooks can achieve millimetre accuracy. ‘I simply can’t see the link to the natural environment of the raw material if it’s served up looking like a chessboard. We serve the food organically, so it tastes of where it comes from and looks like what it is as if there’s a connecting thread running from the natural product through to the way it’s prepared. It also shows that we respect our raw materials.”