meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
The Europeans | European news, politics and culture

The dark side of fine dining

The Europeans | European news, politics and culture

Katy Lee and Dominic Kraemer

Politics, News, Society & Culture

4.8162 Ratings

🗓️ 26 January 2023

⏱️ 45 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

When legendary Copenhagen restaurant Noma announced that it's planning to close its doors, its star chef René Redzepi said that producing his kind of elite cuisine had become 'unsustainable'. The restaurant, and others like it, have faced vocal criticism over working practices ranging from exploitative unpaid internships to gruelling 16-hour days. This week we speak to Lisa Lind Dunbar, an industry veteran and critic of Denmark's restaurant working culture, to try to understand how fine dining went so wrong. We're also talking about Polish bison, why Turkey is blocking Sweden's NATO bid, and the Irish president's vision of a blissfully homework-free childhood.

You can follow Lisa on Instagram here. This week's Isolation Inspiration: Paolo Sorrentino's 'Hand of God', and 'Ukraine: Under the Counter', reported by our very own Katz Laszlo for Rough Translation / Radiolab.

Thanks for listening! If you enjoy our podcast and would like to help us keep making it, we'd love it if you'd consider chipping in a few bucks a month at patreon.com/europeanspodcast (many currencies are available). You can also help new listeners find the show by leaving us a review or giving us five stars on Spotify.

00:00 The Europeans, brought to you by ChatGPT
03:49 Good Week: A proposed homework ban in Ireland
10:15 Bad week: Why Turkey is blocking Sweden's NATO bid
20:55 Interview: Lisa Lind Dunbar on Denmark's broken restaurant industry
39:03 Isolation Inspiration: 'The Hand of God' and 'Under the Counter'
42:07 Hooray for Polish bison

Producers: Katy Lee and Wojciech Oleksiak

Mixing and mastering: Wojciech Oleksiak

Music: Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

Twitter | Instagram | hello@europeanspodcast.com

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Hi, Katie.

0:01.0

Hello, how you doing?

0:02.0

Fine.

0:03.0

I want to try something out for the intro this week.

0:06.0

Okay.

0:07.0

I've asked this AI chat bot, chat GPT, to come up with the script for the opening of the episode.

0:12.0

Can we see if it works?

0:13.0

I'm sending it to you now.

0:15.0

Okay.

0:17.0

This is a terrible idea, by the way.

0:19.0

Like, what if the script is actually good?

0:21.6

Then our job will be made much easier.

0:23.9

Okay.

0:25.1

Cure the music.

0:52.5

Okay. Welcome to the Europeans, a podcast about all things European.

0:53.7

I'm Katie. And I'm Dominic. We're two friends who love to travel

0:57.6

and explore the different cultures and histories of Europe. It's kind of true. I suppose so.

1:03.0

In each episode, we'll be discussing a different aspect of European culture, diving into the histories

1:09.0

and traditions that make Europe such a unique and diverse continent.

1:13.5

Yeah, I guess we're going to do that.

1:14.8

Today, we're going to be talking about European cuisine, from the delicious pastries of France

1:20.1

to the spicy curries of the UK. Europe is home to a wide variety of culinary traditions.

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Katy Lee and Dominic Kraemer, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Katy Lee and Dominic Kraemer and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.