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NORTH Brings Nordic Cuisine to New York

NORTH Brings Nordic Cuisine to New York

NORTH chefs

New York first ever Nordic Food Festival debuts to tremendous success and lots of delicious food.
By Hannah Keyser

“It couldn’t have gone better,” Honest Cooking Editor in Chief Kalle Bergman said in the aftermath of the first ever Nordic Food Festival in New York, which ran from October, 1 through October, 7. Hosted by Honest Cooking Magazine, in collaboration with the International Culinary Center and Restaurant Aquavit, NORTH consisted of dinners around the city as well as a weekend of classes at the ICC.

NORTH Kalle Bergman, Marcus Jernmark Aquavit
Photo by Signe Birck

The whole Festival kicked off with a Press Gala Dinner on Tuesday, October 1. After an introduction to NORTH by Mr. Bergman and Chef Marcus Jernmark of Aquavit, industry and media members enjoyed an eight-course tasting menu prepared by chefs from Nordic restaurants here in the city as well as those flown in for the occasion from Scandinavian countries.

Press Dinner kitchen NORTH
Photo by Signe Birck
NORTH Press Dinner crowd
Photo by Signe Birck
Fredrik Berselius NORTH Press Dinner
Photo by Signe Birck
NORTH Festival kitchen
Photo by Signe Birck

The food represented classic Scandinavian fare as well as more innovative “New Nordic” dishes with an emphasis on seafood and seasonal ingredients.

Fermented Fall NORTH press dinnerFermented Fall NORTH press dinner
Photo by Signe Birck
NORTH press dinner cheese
Photo by Signe Birck
NORTH Press dinner food
Photo by Signe Birck
salmon NORTH press dinner
Photo by Signe Birck

For dessert, diners were treated to a chocolate course as well as licorice-flavored ice cream.

NORTH press dinner chocolate
Photo by Signe Birck
North press dinner ice cream
Photo by Signe Birck

Starting with lunch on Thursday, five restaurants around the city hosted Kitchen Collaborations in which one of the international chefs teamed up with a local chef to prepare a unique tasting menu to showcase Nordic cuisine.

At ACME, Mads Refslund and Gunnar Karl Gíslason, co-owner and executive chef at Dill in Reykjavik, paired up for a taste of Iceland.
 ACME Mads Refslund and Gunnar Karl Gíslason
ACME  Mads Refslund and Gunnar Karl Gíslason
Carl Kristian Frederiksen welcomed Sasu Laukkonen of Helsinki’s Chef & Sommelier to Aamanns-Copenhagen.
Carl Kristian Frederiksen welcomed Sasu Laukkonen of Helsinki’s Chef & Sommelier to Aamanns-Copenhagen
Carl Kristian Frederiksen welcomed Sasu Laukkonen of Helsinki’s Chef & Sommelier to Aamanns-Copenhagen
Carl Kristian Frederiksen welcomed Sasu Laukkonen of Helsinki’s Chef & Sommelier to Aamanns-Copenhagen

See Also

Marcus Jernmark and his pioneer of the Nordic food scene in New York, Restaurant Aquavit, hosted Swedish chef Gustav Trägårdh of Sjömagasinet.

Marcus Jernmark & Gustav Trägårdh
Photo by Signe Birck
At one of Bon Appetit‘s Top 10 Best New Restaurants in America, Aska, head chef Fredrik Bereslius joined forces with Esben Holmboe Bang.
NORTH Aska, Fredrik Bereslius Esben Holmboe Bang
Two Noma alumni chefs – Matt Orlando of Amass and Daniel Burns of Brooklyn’s Luksus – cooked together again.
Matt Orlando of Amass and Daniel Burns of Brooklyn's Luksus
Matt Orlando of Amass and Daniel Burns of Brooklyn's Luksus

Over the weekend, hundreds of people gathered at the International Culinary Center in Soho to participate in hands-on Cooking Classes or enjoy captivating Master Classes.

In Master Classes, many of the same world-renown chefs who cooked for patrons throughout the city spoke about their experience with Nordic food, often presenting demos and samples to engage the crowd. The lectures were monitored by Bergaen.
NORTH Master Class

Master Classes NORTH
Photo by Signe Birck
Master Classes NORTH
Photo by Signe Birck
Those chefs and more also led interactive cooking classes, which allowed students to learn from celebrated chefs how to cook such Scandinavian food as gravlax, rye bread, cinnamon rolls and Swedish meatballs.
NORTH Cooking Class
Photo by Signe Birck
NORTH Cooking Class
Photo by Signe Birck
NORTH Cooking Class
Photo by Signe Birck
NORTH Cooking Class
NORTH Cooking Class
All attendees during the weekend were invited to relax, mingle and sample even more Nordic food and drink the Bo Concept Taste Lounge.
Bo Concept Taste Lounge NORTH
Photo by Signe Birck
After months of planning, it was an incredible experience to see NORTH come to life. Everyone involved had a blast and we at Honest Cooking look forward to making it an annual tradition.

“North is only going to grow,” says Bergman. “Next year will be bigger, badder and bolder!”

NORTH chefs
Photo by Signe Birck
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