Noma 2.0 Cookbook Review
Should you buy the Noma 2.0 cookbook?
I read (and cooked from) every Noma cookbook to help you decide which one to buy.
I’m probably one of the few home cooks crazy enough to try the recipes in all four of the Noma cookbooks, so I figured I’d write a detailed review for Noma 2.0: Vegetable, Forest, Ocean.
Long story short
This is my favorite Noma cookbook, one of my favorite cookbooks for ambitious home cooks, and the perfect gift this holiday season for the culinary-obsessed person in your life.
If you’re looking to recreate full noma dishes at home, know it’s probably more “noma” to create your own dishes with what you learn from the book instead. I love this cookbook because it succeeds at enabling exactly that — while still being a suitable read for both pro cooks and those that just want to decorate their coffee tables.
Now let’s get to the details on who specifically would want this cookbook and how it compares to the other Noma cookbooks.
A History of Noma Cookbooks
My 2015 noma visit is what inspired my interest in cooking. I’ve been 5 times since and obsessively test recreations of those experiences. I literally started growing Mexican oregano (a noma 2.0 staple) in anticipation of this book — and only because I’m already growing other noma staples such as lemon thyme, lemon verbena, woodruff, citrus marigold, and oxalis.
Over the years, I’ve purchased all of the Noma cookbooks, and each have their benefits.
Noma: Time and Place in Nordic Cuisine is the classic. You see it in random architecture renders and restaurants. Probably because the cover is beautifully minimalist. Definitely not because people are using it as a cookbook. I’ve attempted and failed to recreate a few things from it, but the recipes are difficult to replicate (if you can find the ingredients and tools). The dishes themselves are also a bit dated in terms of their presentation.
Largely the same can be said of Noma: A Work In Progress. Whereas this book lacked the beautiful cover of the first, it came with a revealing journal kept by Rene in a pivotal moment of Noma’s rise to stardom. I was a huge fan of this journal (less so of the cookbook, though I did recreate some of the recipes). Unfortunately, it seems this book is now out of print.
Enter the Noma Guide to Fermentation, a practical and eye-opening cookbook for home cooks — not just coffee tables. When Noma released their Noma Guide To Fermentation, it felt like a vault of secrets had been opened. With the book, Noma revealed that the magic behind their incredible dishes lies not in their use of rare ingredients or high tech gadgets but in their use of an age-old food preservation technique: fermentation.
The Noma Guide to Fermentation is without question the most inspirational and habit-changing cookbook I’ve ever used, and it’s fundamentally evolved how I create my own dishes. I’ve written extensively on my love for this book, but I didn’t mention how thorough the science is too. When it comes to providing detailed explanations behind fermentation techniques and the microorganisms that make them happen, these guys leave no stone unturned, which empowers the reader to try their own recipes, too.
Noma 2.0 Cookbook Review
This is my favorite noma cookbook. But it might not be yours.
For the coffee table decorator, it’s the best noma cookbook. The images are beautiful; the explanations are inspiring and approachable whether you cook or not. No detailed recipes you wouldn’t have used anyway.
For the home cook, it's the second best noma cookbook. The Noma Guide to Fermentation is so foundational that it's hard to put anything above it. But this cookbook (especially the gastronomique in the back) is a superb sequel for those looking for ways to spice up their pantry.
For the pro cook, it's the best noma cookbook — but only because it comes with highly detailed digital recipes. Whereas past noma cookbooks weren’t always exacting enough to execute with precision, the digital format lets noma spare no words. With instructions like “Take care with the pumpkin-bushi, as it is a unique product produced just for us in Japan”, I’m convinced these recipes are actually referenced in house.
Personally, this is my favorite Noma cookbook because it's the first one to capture what I love about the restaurant. None of the first two cookbooks had dishes I had tasted before, while this one has dozens, and they read to me like treasure maps. I can’t wait to explore.
