Madland Festival x ESSE

Before we begin: This is a very long and very overdue post. I’ve spent the past month and a half digesting (pun fully intended) one of the coolest food events I attended in Copenhagen. Between the conversations, masterclasses, dinner, and all the questions it left me with about food systems, sustainability, and innovation, I needed some time to process it all before putting it into words. Grab a snack. Let’s talk about regenerative oceans, and how I ended up at one of the best restaurants in Copenhagen.

My favorite class this semester has been Social Change & Innovation Through Food. I’ve always loved problem-solving and building things (from LEGOs to designing my own 3D prints), which is why I decided to pursue an entrepreneurship minor at Michigan. As a foodie, a class that combined food & entrepreneurship was a must-take.

Throughout the semester, we explored entrepreneurship frameworks while debating questions of environmental, social, and economic sustainability. What I loved most was hearing directly from food entrepreneurs in Copenhagen. At Kitchen Collective, founded by one of my teachers, Mia Maja, we met founders who are actively reshaping Denmark’s food system. 

A few notable startups we met: 

• Koji Copenhagen: Upcycles food waste from (some of your favorite and the most well known) bakeries and restaurants, turning surplus bread into products like miso and shoyu through solid state fermentation which can be directly implemented back into the original store. Love Koji’s promotion of a circular economy!

• FANGST: Creating “Nordic tapas” with locally sourced ingredients, featuring tinned fish, spreads, mayos, and crispbread. You can find them at the airport :)

• Saji: An independent Indonesian restaurant in city centre. Delicious and always full so make a reservation. 

Another notable case study & field study we had was a talk with Marie Jeng, founder of Madland (mad translates to food). Madland is not a food startup — it is an organization focusing on food policy, gathering people across the food industry to actively change Denmark’s food system. When I say, ‘the food industry,’ that includes YOU! As a consumer, where you put your money matters. You are a part of this system, just like the restaurant owners, chefs, and advocates that might come to mind first. With ever-increasing food chains, it’s hard to know where your food comes from anymore. Ask yourself, when you eat at any restaurant, be it fast food or an upscale one, do you really know where those ingredients come from?? Unfortunately, the answer is likely no. (If it isn’t, yay!)

When I learned about the Madland Festival, I immediately wanted to get involved. It would be an opportunity to take what I’d been learning in the classroom and experience it in practice, meeting people from every corner of the food world. The week-long Madland Festival is dedicated to rethinking the food system, from microlife to food politics. Co-funded by the City of Copenhagen, the European Union, Wonderful Copenhagen, and the Global Salmon Farming Resistance, the festival brings together restaurant owners, chefs, policymakers, sustainability advocates, and everyday food enthusiasts through workshops, conversations, study trips, and shared meals.

Plastic made of seaweed!

Most of the festival programming was in Danish, but one day of events was offered in English, so I spent a Thursday from 1pm to 10pm attending sessions at ESSE, a fine-dining establishment in Nordhavn. Founded by former Noma head chef Matt Orlando, ESSE serves as a testing ground for circular gastronomy, exploring how restaurants can minimize waste, maximize ingredients, and rethinking the systems behind the food they serve. Throughout the day, he emphasized that circular gastronomy shouldn’t be a niche concept or a marketing buzzword limited to high-end tasting menus. The principles behind it, like reducing waste, rethinking ingredients, designing better systems, and taking responsibility for resources, can be applied by restaurants at every level. The goal isn’t for a handful of restaurants to be exceptional. The goal is for these practices to become ordinary.

Matt explaining the menu | Photo by Liv Kastrup for Madland

Takeaway #1: As a consumer, you play a role in transforming the food system.

It is not solely the responsibility of governments or businesses. To help people make intentional & informed choices, Madland created a guide highlighting local producers, food artisans, bakeries, restaurants, and retailers across Denmark. The guide celebrates businesses committed to local, seasonal, and foraged ingredients while actively reimaging Copenhagen’s food culture.

The message is simple: when you buy directly from small producers and food businesses, you become an active participant in reshaping the food system. You are investing in transparency, fair prices, local communities, and more sustainable forms of production. As Madland writes, “by shortening the road from soil to table, you not only ensure maximum taste and freshness, but also support biodiversity and regenerative methods that support nature.”

Madland Guide specific to Copenhagen (I’ve listed some notable places below)

• Bakeries: Juno the Bakery (best bakery in Copenhagen ft. my fav cardamom bun everrr), Flere Fugle, Lille Bakery, Københavns Bageri, Alice, Rondo

• Coffee: Coffee Collective, Det Vide Hus, Darcy’s Kaffe, Prolog

• Dining: Seks (my fave breakfast/brunch spot), La Banchina (eat by the docks, sunbathe & swim while you’re here), Gro Spiseri, Rørt, Aamans, Kødbyens Fiskebar

If you’re interested, I’ve linked the full Madland Guide for all around Denmark.

Takeaway #2: Respect isn’t enough.

One of the ideas that stuck with me from Matt is the distinction between respect and responsibility. Respect is an attitude. Responsibility is an action.

In food spaces, it’s common to hear people talk about respecting an ingredient, the environment, or the people who produce our food. Responsibility asks a harder question: if we truly value something, how should that change our behavior?

Respect by itself does not create change. Responsibility does.

Takeaway #3: Food literacy matters.

Johan Flyvbjerg, founder of Ingen Burgisk I Havet (No Farmed Fish in the Ocean), spoke about salmon farming. Before his presentation, I had not thought much about the environmental impacts of open-net aquaculture, from waste accumulation beneath fish cages to the spread of sea lice that threatens wild salmon populations. I also hadn’t thought about where farmed salmon feed comes from, or how feeding wild-caught fish to farmed fish can affect communities that rely on those fish as a food source.

Whether or not you agree with every argument, the talk accomplished something important: it made me ask questions I didn’t know to ask. The goal was not to tell people what to eat. It was to help people better understand the systems behind their food. It’s difficult to make informed choices when you don’t know how your food is produced in the first place. Being a foodie is more than just appreciating what’s on the plate.

Takeaway #4: Small changes add up.

As a third grader, I remember being oddly bothered by the nearly full glasses of water left behind at restaurants (thanks to constant water refills in America). I never expected to get an answer to that childhood frustration.

Then during this event, Matt described how he collected, sanitized, and reused water in his restaurant to do things like wash the floors rather than let it go to waste (which helped me save €17,000 in a year alone!!!). His story reminded me that the systems around us were designed by people, which means they can be redesigned by people, too. Innovation isn’t always about creating something new. It’s about paying attention to something everyone else has stopped noticing.

Regenerative Oceans Dinner

After a day of conversations about food systems, sustainability, and ocean health, we sat down for a regenerative oceans dinner designed by Matt Orlando and the team at ESSE. The menu was more than a meal. It was a demonstration of the ideas we had been discussing all day. Every course challenged assumptions about what ingredients are valuable, what parts of an animal are worth eating, and how restaurants can reduce waste without sacrificing flavor.

Fried Oyster

blue mussel & ramson emulsion | vinegar powder

The first bite immediately made me excited for what was to come. 

Fishbone Noodles

chilled buckwheat & fishbone | sunflower seed & miso cream | marigold

This course featured the fishbone noodles Matt had demonstrated during the day’s masterclass. Despite being made from fish bones, the noodles weren’t fishy at all. The marigold made a world of difference, and the addition of Swedish Sichuan peppercorn gave the dish a subtle warmth. It reminded me of dan dan mian, one of my favorite Sichuan dishes because of its savory, spicy, nutty flavor profile. These noodles felt like a toned-down version of the classic punchy flavors found in traditional Sichuan cuisine.

Potato Bread

with smoked scallop skirt butter

The butter was incredible. The bread came out so warm and the butter melted beautifully into it. The bread itself was surprisingly nostalgic. I went through a phase during the pandemic where I baked potato bread constantly and I haven’t had it in years. One bite transported me right back to that time, and has inspired me to start making potato bread again.

Shore Crab Bisque

hazelnut | 42% Sotofte creme fraiche | lemongrass oil

Rich without being heavy, with the hazelnut adding a subtle sweetness that played beautifully with the crab.

The fish was skewered on its own bill

Garfish Satay

magnolia glaze | pumpkin seed & chili sambal | nasturtiums

One of the recurring themes throughout the event was learning to eat species that are abundant rather than concentrating demand on the same handful of popular fish. In Europe, garfish currently maintains a healthy population status, yet it’s not a species most diners actively seek out.

Whole Roasted Miso-Glazed Cod Head

brown butter pancakes

flowering brussel sprout kimchi

marinated cabbage salad

The main! | Photo by Liv Kastrup for Madland

Matt jokingly referred to the main course as “ESSE, the messy version.” The dishes were placed in the middle of the table and shared among everyone sitting nearby, creating a communal experience. We assembled big tacos of sorts, using the brown butter pancakes as a base before layering on the brussel sprout kimchi and cabbage salad. The kimchi delivered a huge punch of acidity and flavor, while the cabbage helped balance everything out.

And the cod head, holy. We poked, prodded, and explored to find the meat, but the reward was so worth it. The cheeks and collar were so tender, flavorful, and perfectly seasoned. It was also a fitting representation of the event’s broader philosophy: if we’re serious about reducing waste, we need to learn to value parts of ingredients that are often discarded. In Western countries like the US, casual restaurants tend to toss cod heads and discard them during the filleting process. But then you miss out on some of the most delicious parts (which can also be used for a great fish stock).

Bread, Bread Bread

sourdough bread ice cream | bread miso caramel | crispy breadcrumbs

Behind the scenes, the making of Bread, Bread, Bread | Photo by Liv Kastrup for Madland

Dessert was made entirely from bread sourced from the Andersen & Maillard bakery next door. The dessert reminded me of cheesecake; I’m usually someone who wants more crust than filling and this absolutely delivered. There may have been more breadcrumbs than ice cream — a sentence I never thought I’d say.

The food was phenomenal. But I was more impressed with the fact that each dish communicated an idea. Fish bones became noodles. Scallop trimmings became butter. Cod heads became the centerpiece of a shared meal. Day-old bread became dessert. The dinner wasn’t trying to convince diners to sacrifice flavor for sustainability. It made a much stronger argument, that the most delicious food can emerge from ingredients we’ve learned to ignore.