Arctic Young Chef 2024

For many years NORA has sought to shine a spotlight on Nordic cuisine, and especially on the unique culinary traditions of the North Atlantic. Our region is blessed with an environment that since the dawn of time has been our pantry, and provided healthy, local, high-quality ingredients. For some years now, there has been a growing focus on sustainable food and a flourishing interest in new culinary experiences. The traditional French and Italian cuisines have been supplemented or fused with new, alternative directions, and people travel far for unique experiences where local ingredients are given space to shine.

At the same time, our region holds a veritable goldmine of local ingredients that, while readily available, are not granted the attention they deserve. There is a wealth of potential in the young and promising chefs and food enthusiasts who are missing neither creativity nor skill, but in certain areas a platform where they can shine a light on their industry and talent.

With this as a backdrop, NORA saw an outstanding opportunity to highlight and lift the North Atlantic cuisine, and at the same time championing sustainability. We wanted to give the young culinary talents a platform, where underutilized local ingredients and culinary skills could play a leading role. This culminated in the culinary competition Arctic Young Chef, which was kickstarted in March of 2024.

The competition centered on blending traditional culinary skills with innovation and creativity. The young chefs from the four NORA-countries were challenged to focus on the use of underutilized local ingredients, such as offal, or lesser-used fish. Sustainability, food waste and the potential to adapt dishes to simpler versions for use in schools or cafeterias were also emphasized.

Through four semifinals in Iceland, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, and Norway, the young chefs faced tough challenges, and showed an impressive level of professionalism, creativity, innovation, and love of cooking. It was a challenge for the judges to choose the winners that would participate in the grand finale in Iceland. After a tough competition, the finalists were announced:

• Runar Helgeland (Norway)
• Andrés Björgvinsson (Iceland)
• Lars Abelsen (Greenland)
• Sebastian Jimenez Garcia (Faroe Islands).

All four showcased their talent and delivered a unique gastronomic experience.

The competition culminated during the Arctic Circle assembly in October of 2024, at the impressive Harpa in Reykjavik, where the four finalists, one from each NORA-country, competed for first place. They were challenged to create three dishes with traditional main ingredients, in addition to ingredients from each NORA-country: seaweed from the Faroe Islands, cloudberries from Norway, beer from Greenland, and skyr from Iceland. After an intense final, Runar Helgeland from Norway won the coveted first place, and was given the prize on the grand stage by Iceland’s president Halla Tómasdóttir.

Helgeland spoke warmly about the competition:
It is so important to hold this kind of competition, which gives young chefs the opportunity to experience the fantastic possibilities of Arctic and North Atlantic cuisine. I really hope this will lead to more cooperation among young chefs in our region. I am grateful to have won this competition, and the level was very high.

For the Faroe Islands, this was the first time a cooking competition had been held in the country. However, there are signs that the seed has been planted, and that this is not the last time young chefs of the North Atlantic will compete for the title of Best Young Chef.

The competition has also garnered attention outside of the NORA region. NORA has been granted the great honor of representing the Nordic cooperation at the World Expo 2025 in Osaka, Japan, where they will present North Atlantic culinary arts. Arctic Young Chef has become more than a competition – it has become a driver for a sustainable culinary future in the North Atlantic area, and an exceptional platform to showcase the best of what Nordic food culture has to offer.

 

More information about the competition: 

PRIZE

• Winners of national semi-finals received DKK 10.000
• All the national semi-finalists will also receive funding to travel to a work visit in another NORA country
• Each winner of the national semi-final moved forward for the final
• The winner of the final competition received DKK 25.000
• The winner got an invitation to visit the Michelin Restaurant KOKS for a week,
  NORA will cover transport. The other finalists are also given the opportunity to visit a
  restaurant in another NORA country. NORA will cover transport expences
• Travel and accommodation for the national semi-final competition and also the final competition was covered by NORA.

COMPETITION FOCUS

• Focus was on the utilization of ingredients that are not often used - Utilize underutilized resources such as kidneys and other viscera or less commonly used fish, etc
• Focus was on traditional culinary skills merged with innovation and creativity
• The dishes should take sustainability and food waste into consideration
• The dishes should be available in a ‘simpler’ version that could be used in i.e. schools or cantinas
• In each country the ingredients were local and to some extent based on the tradition
• In each competition the arrangers provided the contestants with a mystery box, a week before the competition some ingredients were published so contestant could prepare
• Each contestant made 5 ‘copies’ of each dish, the 3 judges got one each, one was for ‘show’ and one for photo
• 3 judges decided who was the winner. 2 local judges and one guest from another NORA country

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