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Noma is named World’s Best Restaurant again: Here’s what we thought of René Redzepi’s cookbook

Famous for its Nordic cuisine and approach to serving up foraged and fermented food, how does the Noma book fare?

Eva Waite-Taylor
Wednesday 06 October 2021 07:01 EDT
The namesake title is considered ‘an inspiration’
The namesake title is considered ‘an inspiration’ (Getty/The Independent)

Considered the Golden Globes of the restaurant world, The World’s 50 Best Restaurants awards took place in Antwerp on 5 October and announced its latest list of groundbreaking eateries.

And after last year’s hiatus, the annual prize was eagerly anticipated. Of course, the pandemic impacted the roster, with chefs being forced to close their restaurant’s doors, something that was of course paid tribute to during the ceremony.

Despite the innovations during lockdown, no attention was paid to the popular fine dining at-home meal kits and instead, the awards focused entirely on in-restaurant experiences.

This year, Copenhagen-based Noma took the top spot once again – the restaurant has won the award four times previously, with 2010 being the first year it received the accreditation. And in September, it was awarded three Michelin stars.

For the uninitiated, Noma is famous for its Nordic cuisine and approach to serving up foraged and fermented food. The menu changes based on the season – from September to December they dish up plates based on the land and come January (to May) it changes to a seafood-based menu. And of course, when summer arrives it’s vegetables galore.

Ahead of each new menu, the restaurant closes to develop innovative dishes based on what’s in season, with chef and co-owner René Redzepi and his team foraging and fermenting new ingredients.

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If you want help achieving Noma standard fermenting skills, the good news is he’s written a book all about it. Better still, we put it through its paces to see whether it really is all that. Spoiler: we were pretty impressed, so read on to find out how you can get your hands on the tome.

‘The Noma Guide to Fermentation’ by Rene Redzepi and David Zilber, published by Artisan

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If you’ve visited Noma or are simply inspired by the restaurant’s approach to serving up seasonal menus that rely heavily on fermented and foraged foods, then you’ll want to get your hands on The Noma Guide to Fermentation.

The tome, written by chef and co-owner of the three-Michelin star restaurant, René Redzepi, and head of fermentation at Noma, Daniel Zilber, is considered “an inspiration” by our writer in her review of the best fermentation cookbooks.

Offering a glimpse into the restaurant’s fermentation lab, “the authors write painstakingly about how they use lacto-fermentation, kombucha, vinegar, and koji to produce umami-rich foods to be used in lots of different ways”, noted our writer.

What’s more, their “imagination in the kitchen is made tangible”, showcasing everything “from black apples to rose and shrimp garum, to ‘peaso’, their signature miso made with peas instead of traditional soybeans”.

The result? A “cure for boredom in the kitchen” that “opens readers up to a whole new world of possibilities in fermentation”, praised our reviewer. It’s certainly one we’ll be adding to our collection, and not just because of Noma’s successes.

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