Denmark to consider if gastronomy is art as New Nordic cuisine movement grows

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Imagine dining on “edible plastic” made from algae and collagen from fish skins. While you ingest the dish, ocean-borne plastic pollution seemingly floats above you, projected across the restaurant’s huge domed ceiling. It’s an experience — and dish — inspired by large garbage patches found in our seas.

In Denmark, chef Rasmus Munk does not offer dishes at the Alchemist restaurant. Instead, he whisks guests on an “immersive dining experience” combining performance, music, projections in its planetarium-like domed dining room, and, of course, food.

Opened in 2019 at the site of a former industrial harbor area in the Danish capital, Copenhagen, Alchemist was named the world’s fifth-best restaurant in 2025. It has two Michelin stars, signifying excellence in cuisine, out of a maximum three possible for one establishment.

Guests at this restaurant can experience 50 “impressions,” most of them edible. Dining there means trying various foods — a large eyeball dish featuring caviar and codfish eye gel, nettle butterflies served atop cheese and artichoke leaves — over many hours, in a slow process that invites reflection on the food and surrounding projections.

“We convey messages through our food, our food is our medium of expressing ourselves,” said Munk, whose dishes also explore issues such as state surveillance and animal welfare.

Once known for bacon, herring, and rye bread, the Scandinavian country’s cuisine has been in ascendancy since 2003 when René Redzepi’s world-beating Noma first burst onto the scene, preaching a “New Nordic” philosophy that celebrated foraging, fermenting and Scandinavia’s seasonal larder.

Emboldened by the success of the New Nordic movement, Denmark's Michelin-starred restaurants are now asking a new question: Can gastronomy be art?

Culture Minister Jakob Engel-Schmidt said in January that Denmark would explore whether gastronomy could be formally recognized as an art form. If realized, it could become the first nation to legally place cooking — or at least the highest versions of it — on a similar pedestal to painting.

It is not clear how the culture ministry’s plans will be impacted by the country’s March 24 general election.

Munk, 34, who says he spent almost a decade honing his “artistic practices,” has been a driving force behind the move and described it as a “big milestone.”

“I don’t think all food is art… I think the craftsmanship needs to be on the highest level,” he said, adding that ultimately it is a political decision what gets called art and what not and that, for now, “this is a closed society for chefs.”

The change, still in its exploratory phase, would eventually require a vote in Denmark’s 179-seat parliament to reclassify gastronomy from craft to art.

It could also make the country’s chefs eligible for state subsidies and funding from private foundations — like writers and musicians — to get their projects off the ground.

Other nations with famed food cultures, including France and Japan, haven’t made similar moves. Last year, UNESCO granted Italian cooking cultural heritage status.

Denmark has previously expanded what constitutes art and culture, for example by awarding a lifetime national arts honor to heavy metal act King Diamond. Last year, the Sonning Prize, Denmark’s largest cultural award, was awarded to French gastronomic artist and chemist Hervé This.

The Nordic nation of six million people has become a dining destination, home to 37 Michelin-starred restaurants, including Copenhagen’s two-star Kadeau, which was opened in 2011 by head chef and creative director Nicolai Nørregaard.

“I approach it like I would approach making a piece of art, like an artwork or a piece of writing,” said Nørregaard. “It’s about getting sort of an experience.”

The 46-year-old head chef, whose recipes reference the seasonal flavors of Danish island Bornholm, said such recognition would be a “big step.”

“To acknowledge that this can also be looked upon as art… that’s what’s important for me,” he added.

But not everyone, even some within the industry, are toasting the idea.

Nick Curtin, the American executive chef and owner of Copenhagen’s Michelin-starred Alouette restaurant, argues art and gastronomy are fundamentally different.

“Art’s sole purpose is expression. It’s to evoke emotion. Food must be consumed,” he said. “(Art) can evoke disgust or disappointment or pain or sorrow or joy or longing. Food actually can’t express all of those things. It can, but it shouldn’t.”

Some in Denmark’s art scene have also expressed concern such a change might see greater competition for funding between chefs and more traditional artists like painters.

Holger Dahl, the architecture and art critic at Denmark’s 277-year-old Berlingske newspaper, is more blunt: “I think it’s quite silly, there’s no use, it doesn’t make any sense.”

He added: “It’s a little bit like a bicycle and a car — they have round wheels, they’ll take you from one point to another point, but it’s not like a very good bicycle all of a sudden turns into a car. It doesn’t happen.”

A cured squid, white cabbage, hazelnuts and walnuts dish served at restaurant Kadeau in Copenhagen, Denmark, Feb. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/James Brooks)

Chiefs prepare food at the restaurant Kadeau in Copenhagen, Denmark, Feb. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/James Brooks)

A dish named "Tongue Kiss" served at restaurant Alchemist in Copenhagen, Denmark, Feb. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/James Brooks)

Chefs prepare the dishes inside the prep kitchen at restaurant Alchemist in Copenhagen, Denmark, Feb. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/James Brooks)

A dish named "Butterfly" featuring nettle butterflies sitting atop cheese and artichoke leaves served at restaurant Alchemist in Copenhagen, Denmark, Feb. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/James Brooks)

North Carolina defensive coordinator Steve Belichick, the son of head coach Bill Belichick, has resigned from his position as the school concludes a probe into its football program.

The school released a statement Thursday morning saying Steve Belichick's resignation would be effective in late October at the conclusion of a medical leave, which was announced early in preseason camp.

That comes after the school's investigation “determined that certain actions demonstrated a disregard for Carolina's values and standards of conduct,” according to the statement. The school didn’t reveal specifics of those actions found by the review, nor had it discussed details of the investigation launched in late July.

“The investigation also found that these actions were isolated in scope and not a systemic failure,” the school said.

The school had previously announced the resignation of general manager Michael Lombardi amid the probe. Lombardi was an immediate hire of Bill Belichick in his NFL-to-college transition as a six-time Super Bowl winner with the New England Patriots.

In Bill Belichick’s first news conference after Lombardi’s Sept. 3 resignation, he faced questions that largely dealt nothing with football. Belichick said he believes his program “totally” has an atmosphere of following rules, saying: “Obviously everybody’s responsible, including me, for doing things properly. And we intend to do that.”

That same day, UNC vice chancellor for communications Dean Stoyer — who released Thursday’s statement — said the school “continues to support Bill Belichick and the Carolina football program.”

The school announced its probe in late July in the days after putting Lombardi on paid administrative leave. The same day Lombardi resigned, WRAL of Raleigh cited anonymous sources in reporting the type of questions asked of some interviewees, with some focusing on Steve Belichick.

Additionally, Lombardi attorney Tom Mars told The Athletic that the school’s probe now included questions into potential “inappropriate” relationships that didn’t involve his client. Mars didn't return a call or email from The Associated Press regarding that comment at the time.

The school on Thursday declined to comment on individuals in the probe, citing university policy on personnel matters. UNC said that “all necessary corrective actions are now underway” and that it considers the investigation to be “resolved.”

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FILE - North Carolina head coach Bill Belichick, left, and defensive coordinator Steve Belichick look on during the first half of an NCAA football game against Central Florida, Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack, File)