Why Noma's René Redzepi Believes Fermentation Is The Future Of Food

"I truly believe in fermentation as a way to make cooking easier," explains René Redzepi. "It's a natural process and way of being, and ultimately the future of cooking."

Redzepi is the co-owner of Noma, Copenhagen's world-famous restaurant and four-time winner on Restaurant magazine's list The World's 50 Best Restaurants. His influence on the food world is unparalleled and includes two appearances on Time magazine covers, his orchestration of the culinary world's G20 Summit-equivalent, Mad Symposium, as well his cultivation of Copenhagen as the world's preeminent culinary destination.

Once dubbed the "Locavore Hero" for popularizing the local food movement and foraged foods, Redzepi now believes that the future of Noma as well as the food industry is clearly fermented. And he and David Zilber, who runs Noma's acclaimed fermentation lab, will be debuting their most exciting work in this space in their upcoming book The Noma Guide to Fermentation.

ALL IS FERMENTED IN THE STATE OF DENMARK

Redzepi's obsession with fermentation and subsequent book release are not unexpected when considered in the context of Danish culinary history. Due to Denmark's long and cold winters, preserved foods have long remained a staple of its culture as a means to extend warm weather bounty into more barren seasons, especially prior to the advent of refrigeration.

When Noma opened its doors in Denmark in 2003, it sought to highlight regional ingredients but struggled to have enough local and foraged foods to supply its kitchen for year round cooking. As the restaurant began to expand its repertoire of wild ingredients, it was forced to come up with ways to store these foods for longer periods.

" When we first opened Noma we didn't know anything to tell you the truth. I didn't even know what 'fermentation' meant ," adds Redzepi. "The world of food was so different 15 years ago. It’s like imagining not having an iPhone!"

For the first four to five years of Noma, the restaurant incorrectly referred to all of its fermentation solely as "picklings" but in retrospect it recognizes that the restaurant has been employing lacto-fermentation since its onset. In addition to its benefit of preserving food, in part due to the initial recipe recommendations made by its foragers, the restaurant discovered that its fermented foods had many bold and unique flavors that profoundly transformed foods from their original states.

In this pursuit of fermentation experimentation, the restaurant has been able to essentially connect its menu to Denmark's culinary traditions.

“There isn’t a single menu or dish served at Noma that isn’t touch with fermentation," explains Redzepi. "So now in addition to foraging and wild foods, we now have fermentation as another restaurant pillar. And now we would say its out main pillar."

THE HOMECOOK'S NEW FAVORITE FOOD HACK

Redzepi and Zilber's book The Noma Guide to Fermentation aims to promote the creative new flavor profiles yielded by fermentation as well as propel the idea that fermentation can actually make cooking easier.

"Fermentation is cooking. It just happens more slowly," says Zilber.

"People can easily learn fermentation," adds Redzepi. "And fermentation is like legos. The more ferments you have, the more flavors you can build. And this makes cooking everything much easier."

Redzepi was inspired to create this book following the release of his wife Nadine Levy Redzepi's cookbook, Downtime: Deliciousness at Home. As he realized how much people enjoyed cooking at home today, he felt conflicted because he had never heard of any home cooks who were able to recreate recipes from the previous Noma cookbook.

As such, the cookbook focuses on Noma-inspired ferments while including approachable instructions appropriate for those cooking at home. Each recipe includes step-by-step photos as well as suggested ingredient usages while focusing on ferments that are true to the fresh Noma style, like  koji, misos and black fruits, versus more expected ferments like sauerkraut.

COINCIDENTAL SUSTAINABILITY

Much of this book is focused on repurposing ingredient by-products as a means to work more creatively with food. Although this reduces food waste, Redzepi notes that the restaurant is primarily focused with experimentation rather than sustainability.

"Everything is important. I don't want to be in a situation where we don't think about every single thing that comes through our doors. It's a natural way to think--to taste everything and to use everything," Redzepi notes.

"It's rare that we can't find usage for a certain ingredient. Everything has use, except for onion shells.”

THE FUTURE IS ANALOG

Redzepi isn't alone in his convictions about fermentation's pivotal role in the future of food. Food giants have been increasingly acquiring, investing in and independently launching their own fermented products.

In September 2018, Coca-Cola acquired Organic & Raw Trading Co. while PepsiCo purchased leading kombucha brand KeVita in November 2016. General Mills similarly invested in fermented food company Farmhouse Culture in March 2017. In addition, Starbucks recently launched its in-house Evolution Fresh kombucha line in August 2018.

These pivots are likely rooted in changing consumer preferences, as domestic buyers are increasingly purchasing more fermented foods as well as becoming more aware of them. Most notably kombucha, the fermented tea drink, is one of the fastest growing drink categories in the US. In 2017 it achieved retail sales of $375 million which represent 40%+ YoY growth and nine times the sales figures generated in 2010, and analysts believe that the category is still relatively nascent with further growth potential at a global CAGR of 25.0% between 2015 to 2020.

Redzepi thinks that this sea change is fascinating given the fast-paced nature of the world today:

"Fermentation is one of the coolest analog things you can do in a highly digitized world. I remember when you had to wait half a day to download an email. Who would wait 7 days for anything today? But that's how long some ferments take. So it's powerful for flavor, and it has meditational value."
-- René Redzepi