What does the Noma-Novonesis flavour partnership mean for food? Summary
- Noma and Novonesis collaborate to create innovative flavour experiences
- Partnership blends fermentation expertise with biotech-driven ingredient development
- First product is a mushroom-based enzyme fermented sauce called garum
- Future launches include dairy and beverage flavours focused on taste and texture
Large-scale ingredients suppliers rarely have anything to do with restaurants. Let alone a five-time winner of The World’s Best Restaurant award, like Noma in Denmark.
But an unlikely partnership is taking place. Noma, famed for its celebration of foraged and fermented Nordic cuisine, is teaming up with Denmark’s largest ingredients supplier: Novonesis.
The aim of the collaboration? To develop new flavours for manufacturers and diners alike.
What Noma and Novonesis are bringing to the partnership
Novonesis, the result of a merger between Chr Hansen and Novozymes, describes itself as a global leader in “biosolutions”. Instead of developing purely synthetic ingredients, it’s working with enzymes, functional proteins, microbial cultures and fermentation.
That’s where Novonesis sees synergies with Noma. The world-class restaurant is big on fermentation, serving up fermented fish and seaweed sauces as flavour-boosters, as well as pickled vegetables, berries, and other wild ingredients.
Noma and Novonesis will be working closely together, travelling to each other’s labs and kitchens, to develop new flavours and ingredients.
Noma is known for its cutting-edge menu, which taps into local foraging and fermentation. (ClarkandCompany/Getty Images)
The partnership is founded on the idea of “deliciousness”, and hopes to inspire consumers and producers to think differently about what food can be.
“We need to inspire the world to eat in new ways, and I believe that flavour is the change factor for this,” says René Redzepi, founder and co-owner of Noma.
“Deliciousness is our superpower,” he says. “In partnership with Novonesis, we can take our imagination, our knowledge, to unlock incredible new flavours and bring them to people’s homes around the world.”
What kinds of flavours should manufacturers and consumers expect?
The collaboration is mutually beneficial. Although Noma won’t benefit from Novonesis’ sales of co-developed ingredients, or vice versa, it provides an opportunity for both players to bring their competencies to the table, Frederik Mejlby, VP for marketing, F&B at Novonesis explains.
“Noma will benefit from Novonesis’ scientific expertise, and expertise within scaling solutions to bring them to tables across the globe.
Andrew Taylor from Novonesis and Rene Redzepi from Noma discuss the three new flavours will be revealed next month. Hint: one will be dairy-related, and the other beverage. (Image: Novonesis)
So what kinds of flavours can be expected from the partnership?
Noma will serve as a major source of inspiration here. Although the world-class restaurant is best known for its foraged herbs, game, radish, roe, umami mushroom flavours, and truffles, Novonesis says it’s not locked into one specific line of flavours or ingredients. It’s about taste and texture above everything.
“If something doesn’t taste good, it doesn’t matter if it’s healthy, sustainable or locally sourced. People won’t eat it.”
We can share the first of three flavours to be revealed next month: an enzyme-enriched mushroom fermented sauce, or ‘garum’. The second flavour will be dairy-related, and the third a beverage product. But for now, Novonesis is keeping the details under wraps.