# Noma Chef steps down **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 20, 2026, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/noma-chef-steps-down/1028597 "2026-03-20T00:48:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 1
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2026, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/noma-chef-steps-down/1028597/1 "2026-03-20T00:48:39Z")
René Redzepi, founding Chef at Noma, has been outed as an _exceptionally_ abusive head chef, and has stepped down. Noma was an _exceptionally_ influential restaurant peaking about 10 years ago. I noticed this (NYtimes): > I don’t know, but it’s been passed down for a long time, particularly in kitchens that operate under the brigade system, which is essentially military. If you talk to chefs who worked in great kitchens in Lyon and Paris they’ll tell you, “Well, this is the way it’s always been.” But that “always” is wrong. Escoffier developed the brigade system as head chef at the Savoy in London. His kitchen produced (modern) fast fresh-food table service because of the brigade system. Apart from the brigade system, which he introduced, his kitchen was marked by no smoking, no drinking, and civilized, quiet, polite, direction. His subordinate chefs didn’t have to yell at people because there was an established hierarchy. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/noma-chef-steps-down/1028597)._