MAD 2: Top echelon of chefs gathered at René Redzepi’s MAD Symposium

Top chefs from around the world are challenged by famed Chef René Redzepi to investigate the “Appetite” theme at the second annual MAD Symposium, a collaborative forum dedicated to the changing role of the chef and an outdoor festival fuelled by a devotion to food and a desire to understand it better.

“The Symposium pulled together the audience into what we hope will be a long-lasting and growing community of people who are mindful about the food they cook and eat. Understanding and treating our produce with care is an obvious step if we hope to produce the finest taste, but it is also necessary to provide the next generation with a solid foundation,” said René Redzepi.

“We recognise that the modern chef is faced with challenges and responsibilities that go far beyond supplying simple sustenance for the duration of a single meal and want the chefs who attend the Symposium to return to their kitchens and reflect on what they have seen and heard; the new questions we now know to ask, to become more inquisitive and imaginative.”

Official program details of MAD Symposium:

July 1
Tor Norretranders – We are here beacause we have appetite
Roderick Sloan – Appetite-the universal wolf
Joost Bakker – Imagine a building that grows food
Enrique Olvera – Rotter, fried bananas
Massimo Bottura–Italy – Cultural Consciousness
Andrea Pieroni – The importance of a rose: feeding biocultural diversities
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall–UK Ethical Food Futures
Shinichiro Takagi–Japan – Asking the winds of the season
Dan Barber–US – The Taste of Wheat
Marc Veyrat-France – A part le plaisir, à quoi sert l’alimentaire?
Aside from pleasure, what purpose does food serve?

July 2
Chido Govera – Appetite: beyond temporary food cravings
Paul Rozin,-Psychology professor at the University of Pennsylvania – The psychology of a meal and how to make a meal
memorable
Mission Chinese Food – The audacity of hope… & Szechuan Peppercorn
Massimo Montanari – “Between Nature & Culture: Appetite as a guide”
Rasmus Kofoed–Denmark – Passion/Prison
Wylie Dufresne–US – An Appetite for Knowledge
Ferran Adrià–Spain – Do I have an appetite for creativity?
Leif Sorensen – From nothing – till something
Fergus Henderson & Trevor Gulliver – “Appetite? – Ahh, hmm, yes”
Andrea Petrini – “True stories, Book two: Cosmopolis Redux (A trailer trash tracys remix)”

Chef René Redzepi is co-owner of the two-Michelin star restaurant Noma in the Christianshavn neighborhood of
Copenhagen, Denmark, voted the best restaurant in the world in 2010 San Pellegrino Awards, 2011 and 2012.