René Redzepi Announces 'Wild Food' Initiative In Copenhagen

Attending today's fifteenth anniversary celebration of The World's 50 Best Restaurants awards hosted by Ferran Adrià in Barcelona, René Redzepi of Copenhagen's currently shuttered Noma announced a new endeavor he calls VILD MAD — Danish for "wild food."

Redzepi, who cooked for a benefit dinner in Connecticut earlier this month and is engaged in opening a new restaurant in Copenhagen and reestablishing Noma in a farm environment, calls VILD MAD "a comprehensive and free resource designed to help the Danish public sustainably explore and cook with wild food." He announced that the initiative would include a wild foods curriculum for Danish schools, a website and an app, and a series of foraging workshops led by 50 forest rangers around Denmark. Though it is planned primarily for Danes, some programs will be offered in English.

"Foraging helped shape the flavors and philosophy of noma's [sic] kitchen," said Redzepi in a prepared statement, "and we believe it can be an incredible tool for people to become acquainted with the landscape; discover new flavors and ingredients; and start new conversations about where food comes from." VILD MAD kicks off officially with a festival in Copenhagen on Aug. 27.