The National Museum of Norway is set to unveil a major cross-disciplinary exhibition charting the rise of New Nordic Cuisine from a regional philosophy to a globally recognized cultural force. Titled “New Nordic. Cuisine, Aesthetics and Place,” the exhibition explores the profound connections between this culinary movement and parallel developments in architecture, design, craft, photography, and art over the past two decades.
Rooted in a 2004 manifesto by a collective of chefs, the New Nordic movement championed a return to local traditions, seasonal ingredients, and the distinct flavors shaped by the region’s unique climate, water, and soil. This focus on authenticity and place resonated far beyond the kitchen, sparking new creative trends and influencing how culture, identity, and nature are perceived. The exhibition argues that this aesthetic has become one of the Nordic region’s most significant cultural exports.
Visitors can expect a comprehensive display featuring over 500 items. These include hand-crafted tableware and objects loaned from renowned Michelin-starred restaurants such as Norway’s Maaemo and Kontrast, Sweden’s Fäviken, Denmark’s Kadeau, and Koks on the Faroe Islands. Examples highlight the movement’s ethos, like ceramics glazed with reindeer bone from Restaurant Credo or a handcrafted menu shaped like a Knut Hamsun novel from the former restaurant Ylajali.
The exhibition situates the contemporary movement within a broader historical context by juxtaposing these items with works from the museum’s collection. Contemporary pieces, including Olafur Eliasson’s geological “Fault Series” photographs and Benjamin Alexander Huseby’s still lifes exploring native versus alien species, will be shown alongside 19th-century landscape paintings by artists like Edvard Munch and Hans Gude, and early botanical illustrations.
“The New Nordic Cuisine did not develop in a vacuum,” says Martin Braathen, Senior Curator at the National Museum. “The movement has perhaps presented the clearest expression of a broader longing for nature and authenticity in our time… This attitude has spread into other disciplines as both an ethos and an aesthetic.”
A unique feature extends the exhibition outdoors: a specially commissioned site-specific pavilion in the museum square. Designed by Dyvik Kahlen architects and SLA landscape architects, the spruce structure features a working kitchen, open fire, and root cellar. It will host a vibrant program reflecting New Nordic lifestyle trends, including guest chef appearances, workshops, foraging trips into nearby forests, and communal cooking, aiming to foster a deeper connection with local food culture.
An accompanying publication, “A New Nordic A to Z,” will also be released.
“New Nordic. Cuisine, Aesthetics and Place” runs at The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design in Oslo, Norway, from May 23 to September 14, 2025. A further iteration of the exhibition is planned for the National Nordic Museum in Seattle, opening in November 2025.
