From Label to Practice: The Process of Creating New Nordic Cuisine

Abstract

This article examines the process of creation of new Nordic cuisine (NNC) as a culinary innovation, focusing on the main stages, actors, and mechanisms that shaped the new label and its practices and facilitated its diffusion in the region and internationally. Fast-paced diffusion was possible because NNC was conceived as an identity movement, triggered by active involvement of entrepreneurial leaders from the culinary profession, high-profile political supporters, legitimating scientists, disseminating media, and interpreting audiences. It was facilitated by three mechanisms: First, the use of an “empty” label, without a previous meaning in food, yet with positive connotations in other domains, allowed establishing a positive abstract notion open to interpretations and different practices. Second, the invitation for participation and financial support for innovative initiatives allowed for more actors and institutions to develop practices associated with the NNC label. Third, organized dissemination allowed the excitement and engagement with the new label to spread quickly.

Keywords:

• New Nordic Cuisine
• culinary innovation
• diffusion
• identity movement

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank our informants Eivind Hålien, Peter Kreiner, Claus Meyer, Ólafur Örn Ólafsson, Harald Osa, Einar Risvik, Finn Børre Stokholm, Mette Vinther Talberg, Fannar Vernharðsson, and Andreas Viestad for sharing their insights about New Nordic Cuisine. The article has also benefitted from comments provided by Stine Grodal and participants at the New Institutionalism Workshop, as well as the ABC and SASE conferences. Finally, we would like to thank Kirstine Zinck Pedersen for her work on the database media search and Robert Freiert for language editing.