New Nordic Cuisine
Claus has challenged conventional thinking in agriculture, food production and cooking. He has inspired a generation to rediscover local Nordic produce through cookbooks, TV shows, cookery schools, lectures, public food debates and produce from his own orchard.
Besides co-founding and co-owning Noma, which holds two Michelin stars, he has published several cookbooks in his native Denmark and hosted the series Meyer’s Kitchen on Danish television from 1991 to 1998 and “New Scandinavian Cooking” that was broadcast in America through the PBS network and 50 other countries. Among his other business ventures Claus owns several restaurants (Studio established in 2013 with Torsten Vildgaard as head chef and partner won a Michelin star just 4 months after opening), bakeries and caterers, fruit and chocolate supply companies, an orchard, a vinegar factory, a salmon smoker, a coffee roastery and runs a cooking school. He is also an associate professor in the Department of Food Science at the University of Copenhagen.
Melting Pot Foundation
Claus is the founder and main sponsor of the Melting Pot Foundation that runs food schools in Danish prisons and in 2013 opened gourmet restaurant Gustu, in the poorest capital of South America, La Paz Bolivia and, soon will be running 13 canteens, in primary schools in El Alto. Gustu and the canteens function as an educational institution overseen by the foundation.
Claus is a prominent advocate of the farm-to-table movement, which seeks to foster local agriculture and encourage sustainable food production.