"A culture of fear, abuse and exploitation": at Noma, the dark side of the world's best restaurant

Voted the world's best restaurant five times, the Noma team (formerly a 3-Michelin-starred establishment) is in turmoil following the publication of several accounts alleging violence in the kitchen. All eyes are on chef René Redzepi, whose management style is being called into question. "Noma broke me." "I was punched in the face during my shift." "The sous-chef told a young woman: 'If you don't work faster, I'll grab you by the pussy and make you work faster.'" Last February, Jason Ignacio White, former head of the fermentation lab at Noma, began sharing testimonies from former employees of the prestigious Copenhagen restaurant on his Instagram account. He compiled numerous episodes of violence and humiliation that occurred during his years working with Noma. These posts, which have been viewed more than 14 million times since their publication, were subsequently transcribed on the website noma-abuse.com - some wished to sign their statements, but most preferred to remain anonymous, for fear of reprisals.

The New York Times also published its own investigation, interviewing 35 former team members. And plunging the establishment—considered by many to be the best restaurant in the world—into turmoil, just as one of its pop-up restaurants is set to open in Los Angeles this Wednesday. To understand the magnitude of this upheaval, one must grasp what Noma represents in the culinary world. When René Redzepi opened the restaurant in Copenhagen in 2003, alongside entrepreneur Claus Meyer, his project was both simple and radical: to reinvent Nordic cuisine using local and seasonal produce, wild plants, mushrooms, seaweed, and fermentation. Noma has structured its seasons around three distinct worlds: seafood (winter-spring), vegetables (summer), and game & forest (autumn). Through its approach, the restaurant has helped redefine global gastronomy, making the Danish capital a must-visit destination for discerning food lovers. Trained under Ferran Adrià at El Bulli and Thomas Keller at The French Laundry, René Redzepi forged, in just a few years, an unparalleled culinary vision. In 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2014, Noma was named the world's best restaurant by the World's 50 Best Restaurants, setting a record. After moving to new premises comprising eleven buildings, four kitchens, and a fermentation lab, the restaurant earned three Michelin stars in 2021. Considered "the most influential, provocative, and important chef in the world," in the words of food critic Anthony Bourdain, René Redzepi was knighted by the Queen of Denmark. It is this legend that is crumbling.

Kitchen Nightmares

Several accounts gathered by the New York Times attest to René Redzepi's violent behavior in the kitchen between 2009 and 2017. Some employees recount being punched in the face, stomach, and ribs, and being thrown against walls. To avoid being seen by customers in the dining room, the chef allegedly crouched under the counters of the open kitchen to skewer his cooks in the legs.

An anecdote reported by the American daily particularly illustrates the culture of violence that reigned at Noma. In 2014, one February evening, the chef reportedly asked the entire staff—about forty cooks—to accompany him outside the restaurant, in the middle of service, and in sub-zero temperatures. While the others were supposed to be standing in a circle, René Redzepi allegedly positioned himself in the center to publicly humiliate a sous-chef who had played techno music—which he disliked—in one of the kitchen sections. According to two witnesses, he then punched his employee in the ribs until the latter admitted loudly and clearly that he liked "giving blowjobs to DJs." Before everyone went back to their places and continued service, no one spoke of it again the next day. A code of silence reigned in the kitchen.The picture painted by these testimonies goes beyond physical violence. Former interns describe sixteen-hour days without pay—Noma only began paying its interns in 2022, after revelations by several Danish media outlets. Intimidation was also commonplace at Noma. Threats were allegedly made, such as damaging the reputations of certain employees to prevent them from finding work, getting the partners of chefs working at other companies fired, or even having families who had followed the chefs to Copenhagen deported. While René Redzepi is singled out, the company culture is also called into question. A former Turkish intern, Mehmet Çekirge, recounts how his supervisors mocked his accent and called him a donkey. "René trained a generation of tyrants, and they bullied us (...). I swallowed it all, because I wanted to prove I was one of them," he told the New York Times. He says it took him years to recover from the experience. "I'm working on myself to change." René Redzepi did not deny the accusations. Initially, he issued a statement to the New York Times: "While I don't recognize all the details of these accounts, I see enough to understand that my actions were harmful. To those who suffered from my leadership, poor judgment, or anger, I am deeply sorry, and I am working on myself to change." He later shared a more personal message on Instagram, acknowledging that he had "become the kind of leader he had promised himself he would never be." "Despite all the pressure I may have felt at that time, nothing can justify my temperament," he added. He also mentioned therapy he has undergone for the past ten years and his gradual withdrawal from daily service. Noma, for its part, claims to have profoundly reformed its practices and is conducting an independent audit. These statements have not convinced everyone—and especially not whistleblower Jason Ignacio White, who is organizing a protest in front of the Noma pop-up in Silver Lake as soon as it opens on Wednesday, with the support of the workers' rights group One Fair Wage. The timing is not insignificant: reservations for this pop-up, at $1,500 per person, sold out in one minute despite its exorbitant price. "Noma has become so exclusive that it's no longer a restaurant, it's performance art," Marco Cerruti, a Los Angeles chef and former collaborator of the Danish restaurant, ironically told the New York Times.