New Nordic Cuisine and the US?

So, I'm guessing most people on here will have at least a passing familiarity with the New Nordic Cuisine that's been making serious waves over the last 5 years or so. 

For those not fully aware, the idea is very much influenced by French terroir. Only ingredients produced within the Nordic countries are used, while tastes tend towards the pure and fresh which is supposed to reflect the ambience of the region. This means a lot of the food is raw, cured or pickled and not so much of it is grilled or pan-fried. Also, many of the ingredients are foraged wild.

What I'm wondering is if there is any sign yet that influences from this style of cooking are spreading to the US, and whether it's something that people in the US would find appealing. As someone who spends a lot of time in the UK, the influence is just starting to become more visible there and I'm wondering where else this might be the case?

I'm intrigued to know what you mean by the 'pseudo-localism' you describe - I'm not really up on trends in North America so it would be quite illuminating.

Looking at the menu for Aquavit, there certainly seems to be a lot of ideas from both traditional and 'new' Nordic cooking that have been incorporated, but I was really thinking more about whether the ethos (food evoking a sense of place) has been carried over. Then again, the US is so large and varied it would probably need to be a bit more regional. I guess food fitting the surroundings of the north-east would be rather different to, say, the Pacific Northwest.

http://www.clausmeyer.dk/en/the_new_nordic_cuisine_/manifesto_.html

The manifesto behind the New Nordic cuisine might give you a better idea of what I mean. Replace the word 'Nordic' with 'regional' where necessary.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ishbel 

Much the same in Scotland.

 

We have many chefs who have always used local produce (whether meat, fish or vegetables) - see people like Nick Nairn, Martin Wishart, Tom Kitchin.  ALL of them insist on locally produced foods, and many of them choose organically grown foodstuffs too.

It's not really about local though, it's a sense of place more than anything.

The Nordic countries have a lot of differences and there is a lot of distance between some of them, but they also have a lot in common: clean air, pine forests, lakes, an attitude that tends towards purity and simplicity. The food is supposed to represent these - and the choice of produce is not about being the most local but about each item being the best one from the entire region at showing these qualities. This is where the idea of terroir comes in - Gotland lamb, for example, tastes of the sea air and the herbs that spring from the rich chalk soil that they eat, you really can tell it apart from lamb elsewhere in the region and it does show off the qualities that are being looked for.

Using Noma as an example, Iceland is not near to Denmark but they feel there are still products from there that can best contribute to the feeling they are trying to portray.

I'm really wondering how this sort of idea would be applied to the US, what people would see as the kind of regions that have an atmospheric or cultural identity, what that identity is, whether they have produce that could be made to fit this identity and whether the same kind of ethos would be achievable. Also I'm wondering whether the fairly broadminded attitude towards different/forgotten plants and herbs would be accepted.

I'm going to give an example from the UK: Paul Foster, the chef at Tuddenham Mill is using a lot of these ideas to represent the fields, waterways and hedgerows of the East Anglia countryside.