COPENHAGEN \u2013 Imagine dining on \u201cedible plastic\u201d 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\u2019s huge domed ceiling. It\u2019s an experience \u2014 and dish \u2014 inspired by large garbage patches found in our seas.<\/p>\n
In Denmark<\/a>, chef Rasmus Munk<\/a> doesn’t offer dishes at the Alchemist restaurant. Instead, he whisks guests on an \u201cimmersive dining experience\u201d combining performance, music, projections in its planetarium-like domed dining room, and, of course, food.<\/p>\n Opened in 2019 at the site of a former industrial harbor area in the Danish capital, Copenhagen, Alchemist was named the world\u2019s fifth-best restaurant in 2025. It has two Michelin stars, signifying excellence in cuisine, out of a maximum three possible for one establishment. <\/p>\n Guests at this restaurant can experience 50 \u201cimpressions,\u201d most of them edible. Dining there means trying various foods \u2014 a large eyeball dish featuring caviar and codfish eye gel, nettle butterflies served atop cheese and artichoke leaves \u2014 over many hours, in a slow process that invites reflection on the food and surrounding projections.<\/p>\n \u201cWe convey messages through our food, our food is our medium of expressing ourselves,\u201d said Munk, whose dishes also explore issues such as state surveillance and animal welfare.<\/p>\n Gastronomy as art<\/p>\n Once known for bacon, herring, and rye bread, the Scandinavian country\u2019s cuisine has been in ascendancy since 2003 when Ren\u00e9 Redzepi\u2019s world-beating Noma first burst onto the scene, preaching a \u201cNew Nordic\u201d philosophy that celebrated foraging, fermenting and Scandinavia\u2019s seasonal larder. <\/p>\n Emboldened by the success of the New Nordic movement, Denmark’s Michelin-starred restaurants are now asking a new question: Can gastronomy be art? <\/p>\n 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 \u2014 or at least the highest versions of it \u2014 on a similar pedestal to painting.<\/p>\n It’s not clear how the culture ministry\u2019s plans will be impacted by the country\u2019s March 24 general election<\/a>.<\/p>\n Munk, 34, who says he spent almost a decade honing his \u201cartistic practices,\u201d has been a driving force behind the move and described it as a \u201cbig milestone.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think all food is art \u2026 I think the craftsmanship needs to be on the highest level,\u201d he said, noting that ultimately it’s a political decision what gets called art and what not and that, for now, \u201cthis is a closed society for chefs.\u201d<\/p>\n The change, still in its exploratory phase, would eventually require a vote in Denmark\u2019s 179-seat parliament to reclassify gastronomy from craft to art.<\/p>\n It could also make the country\u2019s chefs eligible for state subsidies and funding from private foundations \u2014 like writers and musicians \u2014 to get their projects off the ground.<\/p>\n A dining destination<\/p>\n