How New Nordic Changed the World: Two Decades of a Culinary Revolution

It’s been just over 20 years since the launch of the New Nordic Food Manifesto—a values-driven ten-point document that, in hindsight, would transform not just the region’s restaurant scene but global gastronomy itself. The idea was spearheaded by Danish chef and food entrepreneur Claus Meyer, and signed by eleven prominent industry leaders, including Denmark’s René Redzepi, Eyvind Hellstrøm from Norway, Mathias Dahlgren from Sweden, and Finland’s Hans Välimäki. At its core, the manifesto called for a cuisine rooted in seasonality, sustainability, and regional identity. Principles that, as Falstaff Nordic’s Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief Tove Oskarsson Henckel explains, had always existed in some form. “The real stroke of genius was creating a manifesto at all, and uniting leading figures behind it. That kind of clarity is easy to communicate. The chefs who gathered around it were key to its success—especially René Redzepi, who became a charismatic, creative leader.”