There was much expectation ahead of the talk by René Redzepi, ‘Retrospective. In search of longevity’, and the great Danish genius certainly did not disappoint anyone. Having reached the pinnacle of gastronomy with his Noma*** (Copenhagen, Denmark), a few months ago Redzepi announced the restaurant was closing down in 2024.

Another genius, Ferran Adrià, called for a monument for Redzepi in the preceding talk, because the latter had put not only Danish cookery on the gastronomy map, but also the cuisine of Nordic countries. Then it was Andoni Luis Aduriz who introduced him “from the heart”. They have known each other since 2004, when the man who now owns Noma dazzled the Mugaritz chef. Since then there has been a close and very special relationship of "respect and friendship" between the two.
These were the great expectations ahead of the talk by the chef this morning, who brought the entire Mugaritz crew to the Auditorium to pay tribute to the Gipuzkoa restaurant's 25 years and blow out the candles on a cake celebrating a quarter of a century "of one of the most amazing restaurants on the planet". 

A vital journey

Redzepi recalled that the last three years "have been really crazy", and that "some very important decisions" were taken during them.  The Dane began at the beginning, when he was 15 years old and went to the Copenhagen cookery school, where a Redzepi “with no aspirations or thoughts on the future" went along with a friend of his, Michael. His first job was roast chicken in cashew sauce.

All of a sudden his life became "this industry". His friend Michael and he resolved to have their own restaurant. Redzepi studied more and read and saved to be able to go to the best restaurants. A roast pineapple with saffron he made for his kitchen workmates was the before-and-after recipe for him, because he realised people trusted him. “Trust is a deep and powerful change”.

He had worked at a triple-starred French restaurant when he discovered El Bulli, which he made his way to by bus in 1998. He asked Ferran Adrià for a job, and was working there the following year. “Suddenly the possibilities were endless, but could I see them all? I've never taken drugs, but El Bulli in the 90s and Mexico in the early 20th century were my MDMA and my ecstasy".
Then along came the chance to open a Noma where "I felt I was drowning from day one because nobody had prepared me for this. Those beginnings were pure survival, but I jumped in. It was a ten-year free-fall jump, but success arrived".

From children to parents

The region underwent changes and the old Noma closed down: “We weren't 25-year old kids any more - we were parents. I wondered what would happen to that place in the end". In the spring of 2020, with Copenhagen on lockdown, he had time "to torture myself with a lot of questions". He thought about guaranteeing his mental, creative or spiritual longevity. The answer was obvious: “We had to change as a restaurant and as an organisation”.

They wanted to be free when they were overwhelmed by new ideas and sold off some of their grander ideas, such as the batch of fermented fungus, which gave him the courage to announce that Noma was coming to an end. “If you plan too much, the plan itself will tell you not to do it. We wanted to experience longevity. Now I know that to go on being who you are, you have to change. And that's been the constant over the last 20 years, in the restaurant and in my life". 

Redzepi finished off his talk with an enigmatic message: “We aren't going to close - we're building a new Noma”. He also wanted to thank "San Sebastián and Euskadi for being part of my path and Noma's path".