The family meal at “the best restaurant in the world”

We recently discovered a fascinating video made by Danish photographer and filmmaker Simon Ladefoged. He went behind the scenes to film the  staff or “family” 5:00 meal at Noma, a Michelin two-star Copenhagen restaurant that Restaurant Magazine rated “the best restaurant in the world.” The meal has a simple goal – merely to fuel, energize, and satisfy an intensely knowledgable crew of 37 kitchen workers, hailing from 22 countries, shortly before they set out to tackle the pressure of feeding their customers.

Noma takes this family meal very seriously. As the directory of this short documentary relates, “‘While filming I was amazed by two things – the number of chefs in the kitchen and the amount of energy they put into their staff lunch. Other restaurants will just grab something for lunch, but this is a really big thing at Noma, which shows a lot about the people who work there, the mentality and the way it’s run.’ Plus, the family meal varies wildly depending on the nationality of the chef preparing it, ranging from burgers with home-made buns to traditional Israeli dishes or a Danish classic: frikadeller (AKA meatballs).”

Not only is this a wonderful insight into a superbly run kitchen, but it certainly gives perspective on the “normal” family meal we all prepare — which definitely will not look as challenging going forward.

(And purely as an editorial aside, this is a darn good-looking group of chefs).