Hungry: Eating, Road-Tripping, and Risking It All with the Greatest Chef in the World

by Jeff Gordinier

“We’re not looking to change the very spirit of who we are,” Redzepi says. “We’re amplifying it. From day one we’re not going to be perfect. It’s probably not going to be as good as the old Noma was at the end. But give it time and we will be better. Much, much better. An even better restaurant. A more profound experience. An even deeper understanding of ingredients.” Broken down into three distinct seasons (seafood in the winter and early spring, the plant kingdom in the summer, wild game in the fall), the Noma menu that Redzepi is dreaming about won’t repeat a single dish or idea from the previous playbook. He’s been thinking about time—he’s inspired by the Long Now Foundation, the San Francisco–based institution devoted to shifting human thinking so that people consider, and plan for, the farther-out ripples produced by a pebble dropped into a pond. He wants more than what’s merely immediate. “Of course we could just continue as is,” he says. “Just stay put and do what we do there. But I genuinely think we won’t progress.” Maybe his children will inherit Noma. Maybe it will flourish under his great-grandchildren. Redzepi is playing a long game.