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The Arts Intel Report

A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler
A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler

Omnivore

Bananas served in Zone Bananera, Columbia, in a scene from Omnivore.

In 2004, when René Redzepi was 26, he opened Noma, which has earned three Michelin stars and been named the world’s best restaurant five times. Credited with defining the New Nordic movement—highlighting hyperlocal and sustainable ingredients— the Copenhagen restaurant serves dishes ranging from jelly reindeer brains to chocolate covered moss with pine praline and ants. The current incarnation of Noma is set to end this winter because, as Redzepi realized during the restaurant’s coronavirus hiatus, “it’s unsustainable. Financially and emotionally, as an employer and as a human being, it just doesn’t work.” During the pandemic, the chef also started filming his new Apple TV+ docuseries, Omnivore. Narrated by Redzepi, each of the show’s eight episodes looks at one ingredient—coffee, salt, banana—in several regions, examining how it’s cultivated, eaten, and the role it plays in a given culture. It’s a serving of David Attenborough, with a hefty pinch of Anthony Bourdain. —Jensen Davis

Courtesy of Apple TV+