Palate fatigue a low for Redzepi

Rene Redzepi considers his tongue ''the main weapon'' that helped propel his restaurant to the pinnacle of the culinary world. But sometimes, for days at a time, he can't taste a thing.

''It's scary. Sometimes it's 30 minutes, other times it's longer. I can't stop thinking 'what if it stays this way?','' said the head chef of Noma, near Copenhagen. ''You taste a fruit and it tastes like nothing.''

Palate fatigue, as Redzepi calls it, is one of the many highs and lows documented in a year-long journal, which, bundled with a cookbook and pocket-sized photo album, will be released next month.

The 35-year-old chef, known for extolling native ingredients and foraging, flew into Sydney last week for Good Food Month and will cook at the Great Australian Dinner on Sunday night, alongside chefs such as Peter Gilmore, of Quay, and David Chang, of Momofuku.

''It was the first time I felt connected with this rock, this island.''

These days, Redzepi rarely has time to forage.

''I don't miss it,'' he said. ''What I miss are the early days when everything was a discovery. Now I employ a full-time forager. When I do go out, it's only for inspiration.''

His journal details Noma's financial troubles towards the end of 2011 and the need to raise prices and maximise guest numbers to keep it in the black. But he says Noma is now undergoing more serious turmoil.

''Each month, we're spending more money than we're getting in,'' he said.

He also writes about the genesis of trash cooking, when the thought of the world's immense food wastage spurred him to salvage meat trimmings and vegetable peelings to turn them into something fabulous.

He no longer serves dried brains.

''I'm also tired of blood,'' he said. ''At first I was excited and you try to see the qualities in the deep mineral flavour but, in the end, I gagged.''

Source: Good Food, 27 October 2013