{"id":345649,"date":"2026-03-14T09:00:19","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T09:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/345649\/"},"modified":"2026-03-14T09:00:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T09:00:19","slug":"what-is-all-the-controversy-with-noma-and-why-did-head-chef-rene-redzepi-resign-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/345649\/","title":{"rendered":"What is all the controversy with Noma and why did head chef Ren\u00e9 Redzepi resign? \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve seen a lot of references to Noma this week. Why?<\/p>\n

Yes, there have been a lot of headlines, and not of the good kind. The storied Copenhagen restaurant was all set to commence a very fancy four-month pop-up in Los Angeles (LA) a few days ago when mass attention suddenly diverted to its head chef and co-founder, Ren\u00e9 Redzepi<\/a>. From then on, everything became more than a little sour.<\/p>\n

Why did that happen?<\/p>\n

Allegations that the acclaimed chef had physically abused his staff had been circulating on social media for a while, but the LA pop-up (and its $1,500 tickets) added considerable oxygen to the stories. Last weekend, The New York Times took it on, detailing a series of allegations of past physical and pyschological abuse<\/a> of people who had worked for Redzepi<\/a>. <\/p>\n

What kind of allegations?<\/p>\n

Very unpleasant ones, including claims of punching employees in the face and slamming them against walls. \u201cGoing to work felt like going to war,\u201d one former employee told The New York Times. Aside from the many other news reports the investigation spawned, the pop-up location in LA was targeted by protesters holding signs with slogans such as \u201cNo Michelin stars for violence\u201d. Noma held three stars before Redzepi decided in 2023 to close the restaurant as a conventional venue and focus instead on innovations, including the global pop-ups.<\/p>\n

What was the reaction on the ground?<\/p>\n

Some financial sponsors were not happy, cutting ties with the pop-up just before it started. These included American Express. <\/p>\n

So did Redzepi<\/a> have anything to say?<\/p>\n

On a few occasions before now, he has expressed regret about past behaviours. He also provided The New York Times with a statement for last week\u2019s article, saying to \u201cthose who have suffered under my leadership, my bad judgment, or my anger\u201d that he was \u201cdeeply sorry\u201d. He said he had undergone therapy and \u201cfound better ways to manage my anger\u201d.<\/p>\n

Did that draw a veil over the matter?<\/p>\n

No. On Wednesday evening, after the sponsor exit, Redzepi said he was resigning from Noma. \u201cI\u2019ve decided to step away and allow our extraordinary leaders to now guide the restaurant into its next chapter,\u201d he said on Instagram. He had \u201cworked to be a better leader and Noma has taken big steps to transform the culture over many years\u201d, he added. \u201cI recognise these changes do not repair the past. An apology is not enough; I take responsibility for my own actions.\u201d The LA pop-up will now continue under Noma\u2019s team.<\/p>\n

So that\u2019s that?<\/p>\n

Well, <\/p>\n

maybe, or maybe not. The extremely painful allegations detailed by The New York Times have spawned a wider, public conversation about staff treatment in restaurants, particularly at the higher end of what has become a global sector. The end point of this is as yet unclear.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Punching, slamming, screaming: a chef\u2019s past abuse haunts Noma, the world\u2019s top-rated restaurantOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I\u2019ve seen a lot of references to Noma this week. Why? Yes, there have been a lot of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":345650,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[93,61,60,156677,5861,976],"class_list":["post-345649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-rene-redzepi","tag-restaurant","tag-weekendreview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=345649"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345649\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/345650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=345649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=345649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=345649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}