Nordic Food Feed Conference

The Nordic Food Feed Conference began, appropriately enough, with Nordic Food. We were treated to a sampling of New Nordic bits and bites prepared by chef and food writer Trina Hahnemann, who designed a menu to not only to delight our taste buds, but to give us a preview of what we would see again and again over the course of the conference: fresh high quality ingredients, used to make a delicious and innovative Nordic menu.

New Nordic Cuisine on display.

Smoked mackerel rillettes and crest*

Pork cheeks, preserved mushrooms*

After nibbling and networking, we were introduced to the disciples of the New Nordic Cuisine (NNC) – Michael Funchs of the Nordic Council of Ministers, food writer Andreas Viestad, Simon Jeppson from the Nordic Genetic Resource Center (NordGen) and Trina Hahnemann – who testified to NNC’s life changing power as a sustainable and healthy approach to cooking, using fresh, regional products that benefits both nature and society.

Baked Salmon, pointed cabbage, smoked cream and dill*

Juniper cured veal, beet and blackberry*

Trina Hahnemann is the author of two very popular cookbooks, The Scandinavian Cookbook and The Nordic Diet, which she happily announced, is also written in French. She’s also a self-described chef who isn’t concerned as much about making fancy food as making food that’s “real and healthy. Not in terms of calories but good food cooked at home”. Trina also supports cooking good food at home using local ingredients, including celeriac, carrots, beets, potatoes, red cabbage, pork and fish.

The use of ingredients than can be found by foraging in your very own neighborhood is also highly encouraged. Trina says that plants such as stinging nettles and a variety of berries are plentiful and are the perfect example of ingredients that are regional and seasonal. And they are things you can “pick up” on the way home. Literally. She even offered a ways to use these ingredients. For example, use stinging nettles with pasta, then add a bit of chili to make it Nordic with a twist. I’m going to just have to take her word for it.

Cheese from Knuthenlund on fennel crisp bread, rosehip and beer

We were left to our own devices for dinner that night, but encouraged to try one of the restaurants offering special menus during Copenhagen Cooking. I chose the Kiin Kiin. Though this Michelin star restaurant serves Thai food, it managed to apply the NNC principles of fresh, regional products. The set menu included an dishes that incorporated regional products such as mackerel and mullet and wild mushrooms cooked in a crispy wonton or combined with coconut milk, making it Nordic with a twist, as Trina suggested earlier with the pasta with stinging nettles and chili.

Selection of Nordic beers.

The idea “Nordic with a twist” was something that is seen over and over again in New Nordic Cuisine, and is causing a revolution in the world of gastronomy.