Notice in the picture below how Mads Refslund of Restaurant MR chills with the competitor Rene Redzepi from Noma while finishing up the winning dish for entrée of the year. These guys are competing hard while at the same time can have fun and be friendly too.
This photo taken by me got published this morning in the local danish newspaper Fyns Stiftstidende.
I believe a big part of the Nordic gastronomical miracle is that the high end chefs all operate out of an surplus mentality.
Make no mistake they fight to win. Yet they still act as gentlemen and even friends as shown in this picture. Their abundance of trust in themselves and respect for their competitors and colleagues helps raise the overall level of Danish cuisine.
Naturally the tipping point concerning the rise of Nordic gastronomy should also vector in the combination of the extremely seasonal nature of our local ingredients and a decade of economic growth. That is another story for another time.
I hope soon to find time to write an full blogpost on Dish of the Year competition and put it on the flavouristas blog.
