Building on the New Nordic Food Movement

In 2004, the launch of the Nordic Kitchen Manifesto ignited a transformation of the Nordic food landscape. The Nordic Kitchen Manifesto was conceived in 2004 under the leadership of Claus Meyer and Jan Kragh Jacobsen. It lists ten key values including: simplicity, seasonality, identity, transparent supply chains, biodiversity, deliciousness, healthiness, environmental sustainability, animal welfare, innovation, inclusion, interdependency and co-creation. And with our shared ethical responsibility for the destiny of our food culture as the overarching theme.

While the Nordic Food Movement has been a success by any standard, the vision that guides it still holds a great deal of unrealised potential. The core principles of the movement have become guiding stars for many chefs and food entrepreneurs across the Nordic countries. However, the values are not fully integrated into our societies and food culture in general as shown by the impact analysis of the Nordic Kitchen Manifesto (report in Danish).

Today’s food systems and food culture must be understood against a backdrop of very serious challenges: global warming, the loss of biodiversity and a health crisis driven largely by a high prevalence of overweight and obesity leading to non-communicable diseases are some of the “wicked problems” facing us today. All of these issues are closely interwoven with the way we produce and consume food. In addressing these challenges, we have multiple strengths to build on in the Nordics. Talent and innovation capacity, strong institutions, a high level of trust and co-operation across society, and broad aspirations of sustainable farming and business practices. On top of that, we have an incredible success story about a region transitioning from culinary obscurity to a global epicentre of deliciousness in just two decades.

New Nordic Food Manifesto

To express the purity, freshness, simplicity and ethics we wish to associate to our region.
To reflect the changes of the seasons in the meal we make.
To base our cooking on ingredients and produce whose characteristics are particularly in our climates, lanscapes and waters.
To combine the demand for good taste with modrn knowledge of health and well-being.
To promote Nordic products and the variety of Nordic producers - and to spread the word about their underlying cultures.
To promote animal welfare and a sound production process in our seas, on our farmland and in the wild.
To develop potentially new applications of traditional Nordic food products.
To combine the best in Nordic cookery and culinary traditions with impulses from abroad.
To combine local self-suffiency with regional sharing of high-quality products.
To join forces with consumer representatives, other cooking craftsmen, agriculture, fishing, food, retail and wholesales industries, researchers, teachers, politicians and authorities on this project for the benefit and advantage of everyone in the Nordic countries.