After a very early wake up and run among party people finishing their night, Brenna, Rachel, and I set off to the Meatpacking District, exploring different streets and eventually ending up at Torvehallerne, an indoor food hall where we got some snacks. From there we headed to the Design Museum, admired the many chairs, and had lunch before heading back to the hostel to rest before the evening. While riding, I noticed the slanted cycle track which prevented rain from pooling where people travel. After a whole almost-day on a bike, I found myself annoyed with a tourist for walking in the bike lane around Nyhaven (I’m certain that I am just as much of a nuisance to locals trying to get around.
Back at the hostel, Catherine mentioned that neither Uber or Lyft are available in Copenhagen. This surprised me since I took an Uber when I visited in 2016. After some internet research, I determined that the government wanted ride-share companies to comply with taxi regulations. Uber and Lyft did not want to do this and instead pulled their service from the city.
In the evening, we met up with “Bike Mike” for a tour of the city and some context about the history and politics of the area. While cool to see some new areas, since we had the morning free, we had already seen many of the areas we stopped at. Bike Mike has a wealth of knowledge about the city, but I didn’t care for his commentary about American politics, whether it was a joke or not.
Splitting from the group, I booked it over to Amass and managed to snag the last walk-in seat available. I enjoyed an incredible meal with each course brought to me by a different member of the kitchen staff who explained the ingredients and their origins. The head chef, Matt Orlando, worked at Noma before opening Amass, and deeply prioritizes sustainability. Referring to their website, I learned that they implement the following practices:
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- Use every part of ingredients both to reduce waste and create new dishes and flavors
- “By-products” drive creativity
- Through this able to reduce waste by 75%
- Responsible, sustainable state of mind that shapes everything
- 90% + organic
- Compost used for garden and some turned into tea
- Any remaining waste including frying oil processed for biofuel
- Remaining water from tables used in the kitchen, for watering in the garden, or for washing floors
- Recycling and reducing single use items
- Responsibly sourced fish
- Amass Green Kids Program – engage with local kids about food, both tending to vegetables in the garden and cooking in the kitchen
- Use every part of ingredients both to reduce waste and create new dishes and flavors
