{"id":35213,"date":"2026-03-08T08:37:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T08:37:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/35213\/"},"modified":"2026-03-08T08:37:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T08:37:11","slug":"denmark-set-to-explore-if-gastronomy-can-be-art-form","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/35213\/","title":{"rendered":"Denmark set to explore if gastronomy can be art form"},"content":{"rendered":"

COPENHAGEN
\n\"Denmark <\/p>\n

A dish named “Tongue Kiss” served at restaurant Alchemist in Copenhagen, Denmark, Feb. 11, 2026. (AP Photo\/James Brooks)<\/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<\/a>‘s Michelin-starred restaurants are now asking a new question: Can gastronomy<\/a> 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<\/a>. 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.<\/p>\n

Renowned Alchemist chef Rasmus 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

Other nations with famed food cultures, including France and Japan, haven\u2019t made similar moves. Last year, UNESCO granted Italian cooking cultural heritage status.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s largest cultural award, was awarded to French gastronomic artist and chemist Herv\u00e9 This.<\/p>\n

The Nordic nation of 6 million people has become a dining destination, home to 37 Michelin-starred restaurants<\/p>\n

But not everyone, even some within the industry, are toasting the idea.<\/p>\n

Nick Curtin, the American executive chef and owner of Copenhagen\u2019s Michelin-starred Alouette restaurant, argues that art and gastronomy are fundamentally different.<\/p>\n

\u201cArt\u2019s sole purpose is expression. It\u2019s to evoke emotion. Food must be consumed,\u201d he said. \u201c[Art]\u00a0can evoke disgust or disappointment or pain or sorrow or joy or longing. Food actually can\u2019t express all of those things. It can, but it shouldn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"COPENHAGEN A dish named “Tongue Kiss” served at restaurant Alchemist in Copenhagen, Denmark, Feb. 11, 2026. (AP Photo\/James…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35214,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[20566,27,26,1306],"class_list":["post-35213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-denmark","tag-art-form","tag-danmark","tag-denmark","tag-gastronomy"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/116192650457005556","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35213","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35213"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35213\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}