NORA
14. Arctic Young Chef
NORA has long sought to shine a spotlight on the North Atlantic’s unique culinary traditions. In this respect, the people of the region – which is richly endowed with healthy, high-quality ingredients – have shown a growing interest in both sustainable food and new culinary experiences. Traditional French and Italian cuisines have been supplemented by or fused with innovative new approaches, drawing enthusiasts from far afield keen to taste dishes where local ingredients are given the space to shine.
Even so, the North Atlantic region’s cuisine is yet to receive the level of attention it deserves. Although a number of promising young chefs have emerged in recent years, a platform is needed to give full reign to their talent and industry.
Thus, NORA seized the opportunity to give these culinary stars of the future a stage on which they could show off their skills while making use of underutilised local ingredients, thereby both promoting North Atlantic dishes and championing sustainability. This took the form of the Arctic Young Chef culinary competition, which kicked off in March 2024.
The competition centred on blending traditional culinary skills with innovation and creativity. Towards this end, young chefs from the four NORA countries (Iceland, Greenland, the Faroe Islands and coastal Norway) were asked to focus on underutilised local ingredients, such as offal or lesser-used fish. Also emphasised was sustainability, food waste and the potential to adapt dishes for use in schools or cafeterias.
Throughout the semi-finals in the respective NORA areas, the young chefs displayed an impressive level of professionalism, creativity and innovation, as well as – perhaps most importantly – a genuine love of cooking. All this made it extremely difficult for the judges to select who would go through to the grand final. After much deliberation, Runar Helgeland (Norway), Andrés Björgvinsson (Iceland), Lars Abelsen (Greenland) and Sebastian Jimenez Garcia (Faroe Islands) were announced as the chosen candidates.
The final took place in Reykjavík’s impressive Harpa concert hall in October 2024, at the Arctic Circle Assembly. There, the four finalists were tasked with creating three dishes using traditional regional ingredients combined with ingredients representative of each NORA country: seaweed from the Faroe Islands, cloudberries from Norway, beer from Greenland, and skyr from Iceland. Following a close-fought contest, Norway’s Runar Helgeland emerged victorious. Receiving his richly deserved first prize from Iceland’s president Halla Tómasdóttir on the grand stage, Helgeland enthusiastically observed:
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.
In the case of the Faroe Islands, this was the first time a cooking competition had even been held in the country. Going forward, it seems unlikely that this will be the last time the North Atlantic region’s culinary pioneers compete for the title of Best Young Chef.
The competition also garnered overseas attention, with NORA granted the honour of presenting the North Atlantic’s culinary arts at the World Expo 2025 in Osaka, Japan. All this is a sure sign that Arctic Young Chef has become more than just a competition, providing not only an exceptional showcase for what Nordic food culture has to offer, but inspiration for building a sustainable culinary future across the North Atlantic area.
