Out of the frying pan? Noma’s Rene Redzepi resigns, and fine dining confronts 'brigade' culture - AP News

The downfall of the world's top chef has raised questions about whether time is up for the storied bullying and abuse of fine dining kitchens. Danish chef Rene Redzepi, the founder of Noma in Copenhagen, resigned this week after The New York Times reported that dozens of his former employees say he abused them. The report came just before Noma opened an expensive pop-up in Los Angeles. Celebrity chefs bullying subordinates is a well-known and well-studied feature of fine dining kitchens for over a century. Experts say that restaurants are unlikely to self-police and make broad reforms on th...

Out of the frying pan? Noma’s Rene Redzepi resigns, and fine dining confronts ‘brigade’ culture

Noma’s chef René Redzepi prepares a vegetarian burger in a restaurant, in Copenhagen, Nov. 24, 2024. (Soeren Bidstrup/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)

Gordon Ramsay arrives at the FOX winter junket on Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2023, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)

Jeremy Allen White arrives at the premiere of “The Bear” Season 3 at the El Capitan Theatre on Tuesday, June 25, 2024, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)

Danish chef René Redzepi, in London, April 29, 2013. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis, File)

Noma’s chef René Redzepi smells a citrus fruit in Copenhagen, Nov. 24, 2024. (Soeren Bidstrup/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)

LONDON (AP) — Chef Gordon Ramsay yells at people. His mentor was known for throwing pans and plates. That chef, London’s Marco Pierre White, titled his own memoir “The Devil in the Kitchen” — in part for the punishments he meted out to his chefs.

“If you don’t fear the boss, you’ll take shortcuts, you’ll turn up late,” White wrote, saying his kitchen staff at Harveys accepted that. “They were all pain junkies, they had to be. They couldn’t get enough of the bollockings.”

The public downfall this week of Denmark’s Rene Redzepi, arguably the world’s top chef, has forced a reckoning in real time over when “brigade de cuisine” becomes abuse and what should happen to perpetrators who direct the creation of edible art.

At issue is whether time is up on the storied bullying and intimidation of fine dining kitchen culture, brought to the masses through pop culture by celebrity chef reality shows and high-end TV like “The Bear.” Lofty, pricey matters like leadership style and legal liability are suddenly at the center of a relatively small industry known for narrow profit margins, not HR departments or training.

“The resources aren’t there for self-policing,” said Robin Burrow, associate professor of organization studies at the University of York. “The general feeling, though, is that things are so tough even for very good chefs that this kind of culture ends up being inevitable.”

Kitchen magician, toxic chef

Redzepi, a Danish knight and the founder of Noma and innovative “New Nordic” cuisine, stepped down Thursday after The New York Times reported that dozens of former employees had shared their accounts of abuse and assault between 2009 and 2017 at the Copenhagen landmark. Redzepi had been dogged for years by reports of mistreating his staff and employing unpaid interns at Noma, which received three Michelin stars and was ranked first on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants List five times.

The allegations overshadowed Noma’s $1,500-a-head pop-up restaurant in Los Angeles. Sponsors pulled their funding for the residency, which opened on Wednesday to a small gathering of protesters. Redzepi announced his resignation on Instagram with a tearful video soon after. “An apology is not enough,” he said. “I take responsibility for my own actions.”

Former employees said Redzepi has never been held accountable for his conduct, which included punching members of the staff, jabbing them with kitchen tools and threatening to get them blacklisted from restaurants or have their families deported.

Jason Ignacio White, a former head of Noma’s fermentation lab, collected anonymous testimonies of alleged abuse at the restaurant and posted them to his Instagram page. The accounts have been viewed millions of times.

This article is republished through the USVI News affiliate desk. Reporting, analysis, and viewpoints are those of the original publisher and do not necessarily reflect USVI News.