A New York Times report this week about physical violence and bullying at the world-renowned restaurant Noma has the food world talking.
Reports about abusive working conditions at the now-defunct restaurant in Copenhagen founded by chef René Redzepi were not new.
But the New York Times interviewed 35 former employees who offered a pattern of both physical and psychological punishment that included punches, jabs with kitchen implements and slamming workers against a wall, as well as intimidation, body shaming and public ridicule. Some of those employees said they felt Redzepi had never been held truly accountable for his behavior.
The article was published just as Noma is scheduled to stage a 16-week popup residency in Los Angeles, billed at $1,500 per person. The event was to be part of a “special film project,” and hosted in partnership with the Copenhagen-based nonprofit MAD, which offers education to help “chefs and other professionals in food lead the change that their industry—and the planet—need,” according to its website.
In the wake of the New York Times article being published over the weekend, the labor advocacy group One Fair Wage has scheduled a protest starting March 11, and throughout the popup residency, in an attempt to link the abuse in the fine-dining restaurant’s kitchens to broader structural workplace issues in the restaurant industry.
Scheduled to speak at the protest in Los Angeles is Jason Ignacio White, Noma’s former chef and director of fermentation, who also has taken to social media to tell of his experiences, saying in one post that he is dedicating his life to helping the restaurant industry change.
Some are posting anonymously at noma_abuse about their own treatment.
For a time, Noma interns, for example, were not paid—though in 2022 Redzepi was forced to compensate those workers. The following year, he announced plans to close the restaurant, saying that model of fine dining was unsustainable.
Redzepi, meanwhile, also posted a response to the New York Times piece, saying he doesn’t recognize all the incidents described in the article but “I can see enough of my past behavior reflected in them to understand that my actions were harmful to people who worked with me.”
The chef said he began speaking openly about his “unacceptable” behavior a decade ago, saying he was not able to handle the pressure and that he reacted in ways that he now regrets.
In a 2015 essay, Redzepi wrote about his own abuse at the hands of demanding bosses. With the help of therapy, reflection and stepping away from day-to-day service, Redzepi wrote on Instagram Saturday that he has found better ways to manage his anger, adding that he is “still learning.”
He also said the organization’s kitchen culture has been transformed, and credited his team for making him want to do better every day.
“I cannot change who I was then,” he wrote. “But I take responsibility for it and will keep doing the work to be better.”
Noma was once considered one of the most influential restaurants in the world. After the touring popup events, Redzepi has indicated the restaurant will reopen in late 2027 with a 3.0 variation.
The reawakened controversy, however, has generated much conversation on Instagram, with restaurateurs questioning what made kitchens like Noma’s seem normal, and expressing mixed emotions about Redzepi’s legacy.
Others shared advice about creating supportive workplaces.
Chef and writer Kenji Lopez-Alt, for example, wrote that he had certain ironclad rules in the restaurant he operated in Seattle in 2017, aside from the obvious rules of no violence, harassment or threats. His rules included “no shouting in anger,” “no abusive language,” “praise in public, correct in private,” and “no race, gender, sexuality, nationality or body-based comments,” among others.
Fundamentally, he wrote, “High standards are not an excuse for bad behavior.”
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