The New Nordic Cuisine Movement

In 2004, Claus Meyer and some of the greatest chefs in the Nordic region formulated the 'New Nordic Kitchen Manifesto'.

In 2005 the Nordic Council of Ministers adopted the manifesto as the ideology of the New Nordic Food programme, which was supported by extended national development programmes. Today, the manifesto is a guiding light, not just for visionary chefs, but also for an increasing number of small and large food companies, who have found a new way of communicating with ambitious consumers. The Nordic Cuisine movement – informal, open and democratic – is widely considered the strongest and most important culinary revolution ever in the Nordic region.

The Manifesto for the New Nordic Kitchen

  1. To express the purity, freshness, simplicity and ethics that we would like to associate with our region
  2. To reflect the different seasons in the meals
  3. To base cooking on raw materials which characteristics are especially excellent in our climate, landscape and waters
  4. To combine the demand for good taste in food with modern knowledge about health and well-being
  5. To promote the Nordic products and the variety of Nordic producers and to disseminate the knowledge of the cultures behind them
  6. To promote the welfare of the animals and a sound production in the sea and in the cultivated as well as wild landscapes
  7. To develop new possible applications of traditional Nordic food products
  8. To combine the best Nordic cooking procedures and culinary traditions with impulses from outside
  9. To combine local self-sufficiency with regional exchange of high-quality goods
  10. To cooperate with representatives of consumers, other cooking craftsmen, agriculture, fishing industry, food industry, retail and wholesale industry, researchers, teachers, politicians and authorities on this joint project to the benefit and advantage of all in the Nordic countries

Read more at newnordicfood.org.