Noma's René Redzepi Wants You To Eat Your Christmas Tree

Eater National:

Calling it a "shame" that people throw out Christmas tree "as if they were garbage," chef René Redzepi (of the restaurant Noma in Copenhagen) would like you to cook and eat it. It's like hyper-local foraging, except you're foraging in your living room. In an op-ed for the New York Times, Redzepi writes: "Nature takes enormous time and effort to produce something that we use only briefly. Why don't we make greater use of this living tree, as we make use of so many other kinds of plants on earth, by eating it?"

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Comments

[Judy2546]

10:51 AM on 12/29/2010

Nutso!

[Titanshanks]

04:02 AM on 12/29/2010

I could've told you that.

[woodcut]

07:21 PM on 12/28/2010

In Arizona & New Mexico, juniper berries are used as a spice.

[MagicalPossibilities]

02:00 AM on 12/29/2010

Juniper berries are awesome with pork or game meats.
Not sure I'd want to use pine needles as a spice though. I'll stick with rosemary.

[WaPoFan]

05:48 PM on 12/28/2010

So where is the recipe?

[DrJohnnySkeptic]

03:49 PM on 12/28/2010

Is that even safe? I heard you can eat spruce trees, but I don't know about Christmas trees.

[The Rewd]

02:31 PM on 12/28/2010

Ewell Gibbons died a long time ago ....

[JL-Sosa]

01:51 PM on 12/28/2010

I was always told that pinewood is dangerous to burn and cook with due to the resins and the pine sap. Is this not true?

[The Rewd]

02:30 PM on 12/28/2010

You do not want to burn pine in your fireplace, stove, etc. due to the resins that cause accumulation in chimneys and other components. Outdoor open fire cooking not a problem.

[wonderfullone]

01:29 PM on 12/28/2010

What's going on in our wonderful country? Even the "Tree Huggers" are turning into "Cannibals".

[sabelmouse]

06:58 AM on 12/28/2010

well. one tree goes a very long way though. firewood makes more sense to me. or no tree at all. unless it's in the garden.
the tradition isn't very old.