Lounge
Is Copenhagen Europe's most vegetarian-friendly city?
Summary
Climate consciousness has prompted several fine-dining restaurants in Copenhagen to go green. Now, the plant-based movement has galvanised street-food joints and community dining halls
For brunch, I bite into a smørrebrød that looks like a fresh garden blooming on soil—a dense rye bread slathered with a velvety hummus of indrid peas, baked pumpkin and vegetable stock, and ribboned with petals of pickled pumpkin. If we were in Copenhagen two decades ago, the traditional Danish open-faced sandwich would be incomplete without pickled herring, liver pate, or roast beef. But over time, the city has metamorphosed into a vegetarian’s delight—thanks to climate consciousness.
A big portion of my meals in the city over four days shine with unassuming vegetables in the most exciting preparations—a complete antithesis to what my vegetarian meals in several parts of Europe have looked like, where bread, cheese or a token plant-based dish have been the theme. At the buffet breakfast at Neni, a Middle Eastern restaurant at 25hours Indre By hotel, I tried a vegan alternative to salami made from soy and pea protein. At restaurants across the city, humble, overlooked vegetables like pickled squash, artichokes and celery catch my attention more than meat. Beyond restaurants, local supermarket shelves are replete with meat alternatives, which claim to have 60% less climate impact than sausages. “Sweden has been way ahead of us in the green movement but we are slowly catching up," says Guxi Maria Abel, a food tour guide who takes me on an all-vegetarian trail in the city, introducing me to gourmet cheeses and apple wines.
The grass is greener in fine dining
Denmark’s increasing dependence on plant-based food is a commitment towards a greener environment. In 2004, a year after opening noma, food entrepreneur Claus Meyer formulated a manifesto to reimagine the way Nordic countries cooked and ate food. The New Nordic Kitchen Manifesto enforced a commitment to locally sourced and organic food, with animal welfare, seasonality, freshness, simplicity and creativity at the heart of its ten principles. The manifesto was signed by 10 chefs, and from Denmark, the movement was backed by chef Erwin Lauterbach and noma head chef René Redzepi. And thus began the New Nordic Cuisine movement, where Scandinavian produce were looked at with a renewed vigour.
Also read: A food guide for Australia's capital, Canberra
When noma, the now-shuttered restaurant that has been crowned the World’s Best Restaurant five times, relaunched in 2018, its new avatar catapulted the practice of foraging for ingredients from their surrounding bounty. Meat would be highlighted only from early fall through the end of the year.
Several fine-dining restaurants made the bold move of going completely green. Ark, the first vegan restaurant in the Nordics to have been awarded a Michelin Green Star in 2021, strives to make vegetables the star of a dish. “We decided to go vegan because there is much more information and awareness about farming and the impact certain practices have on our environment. We wanted to show that plant-based food is just as interesting and exciting," says executive chef Brett Lavender of restaurant group The Ark Collection, which also has plant-based restaurants Bistro Lupa and Beyla under its umbrella.
In 2022, Geranium, the first Danish restaurant to win three Michelin stars, decided to entirely switch to a vegetarian menu with a smattering of seafood. The same year Geranium was titled The World’s Best Restaurant. VeVe, another restaurant which launched in 2016, reimagines vegetarian and vegan world cuisine in the most creative ways—think cotton candy fashioned from beetroot and cassava chips satay style.
Beyond fine dining
The green food movement in Copenhagen started with upscale restaurants but soon spread its wings. “It began with rich people who could afford to become vegetarian," says Abel, who grew up vegetarian partly in Sweden, and adds that it was far easier to find meat substitutes in the neighbouring country back then. “Years ago, substitutes would be available only at exclusive supermarkets, but now it’s mainstream and affordable in Denmark."
I visit Absalon, a community hub in Copenhagen that hosts fællesspisning—the Danish practice of communal dining—on an all-vegetarian menu day. Seated on a long family-style table with strangers by my side, I tuck into a comforting bowl of pesto potatoes, sourdough bread and an assortment of stewed vegetables. When Absalon started, it served meat on most days, but over ten years, it has slowly transitioned into serving a vegetarian menu nearly five days a week.
Also read: A taste of the unique Danish tradition of communal eating
The green initiatives are not lost on street food vendors and fast-food joints in the city. The iconic hotdog stand Den Økologiske Pølsemand (DØP) offers a vegan tofu sausage and bread. Popl, a burger joint by the team behind noma, doles out vegetarian quinoa burgers made of fermented quinoa and tempeh spores, a recipe developed over months of experimentation in the noma fermentation lab. Kristian Rise, restaurant manager, says the intention was never to imitate meat. “There are plenty of good and bad products that do that already. We ferment the quinoa to pack a healthy amount of protein and an umami flavour, making the burger a wholesome meal with a unique flavour profile."
Vegans also have several options to keep their teeth well-honeyed in Copenhagen. Det Rene Brød, an organic bakery, serves vegan versions of Danish pastries and cakes. The famed Danish dessert flødebolle, a chocolate disc that pops and disappears in your mouth, is traditionally made with egg whites. But at Glean, founder Anja Bindesbøll whipped up a vegan alternative to the dessert with aquafaba.
An uphill battle
Sustaining a vegetarian restaurant in Copenhagen is no mean feat. “Limiting our ingredient selection, following the seasons and working sustainably all bring their challenges. Product seasons change yearly. Just because strawberries were ready in June last year doesn’t mean it will be the same this year," says chef Lavender of Ark. Persuading Danes is another challenge, he adds. “They are big meat eaters, and there is still a stigma around plant-based food and fewer people willing to part with their hard-earned cash to try it."
However, the narrative is changing slowly, especially among the young generations who believe there is no planet B. About 23% of young people in Denmark follow a predominantly vegetarian diet, as per a 2019 report by the Vegetarian Society of Denmark. “It’s most rewarding when the younger generations bring their parents or grandparents to introduce them to plant-based food, something they would not have done independently," says chef Lavender and adds, “When we change our mindset, the rest falls into place."
Shradha Shahani is a Mumbai-based lifestyle journalist.
