The coverage of the restaurant’s closure perpetuates the myth of noma as “The World’s Greatest Restaurant”, credits it for being an innovator in changing toxic and systemic industry-labor-practices, and glosses over the fact that it defined and continually exploited systemic inequalities in order to make elaborate, expensive menus.
If you were a restaurant-minded person on the internet on January 9th, 2023, it was pretty difficult to avoid the public announcement of noma’s closure. It was featured across media including in the NYTimes, Eater, The Guardian, and The Financial Times, which had published an article criticizing the labor practices of Copenhagen restaurants, noma in particular, early last year. As I live and work in food in Copenhagen, I received pings from disparate places asking what I thought; my mom sent me a “did you see this!” text.