First MAD Symposium | Planting Thoughts
27-28 August 2011
The idea behind the first Symposium, which would eventually become MAD’s cornerstone event, was to create a forum where chefs could collaborate in the spirit of communal knowledge and inspiration. This forum would not be a place to show new dishes and techniques, but a space for addressing how adopting an improved consciousness in restaurants will inform one’s daily decisions and improve the quality of consumption and life.
Three hundred chefs, restaurateurs, servers, and writers from around the world gathered to start a conversation around the issues that kitchens and restaurants face everyday. The debut focused on the matter of Planting Thoughts and dove deep into discovering how we all depend upon the world of edible plants.
Day One
René Redzepi
Chef/Owner, noma and Founder, MAD • Denmark
Miles Irving
Forager and Author • UK
Tor Nørretranders
Author • Denmark
Daniel Patterson
Chef, Alta Restaurant Group • USA
Yoshihiro Narisawa
Chef/Owner, Narisawa • Japan
Hans Herren
President/CEO, Millennium Institute; Co-Founder/President, Biovision • Sweden
Kamal Mouzawak
Founder, Souk el Tayeb; Owner, Restaurant Tawlet; Restaurateur and Hotelier • Lebanon
Iñaki Aizpitarte
Chef, Le Chateaubriand • France
Thomas Harttung
Farmer and Co-Founder, Aarstiderne; CEO, Black Carbon • Denmark
Magnus Nilsson
Chef, Fäviken Magasinet • Sweden
Jacqueline McGlade
Professor of Resilience and Sustainable Development, University College London and Gresham • UK
Ben Shewry
Chef/Owner, Attica • Australia
Day Two
Stefano Mancuso
Professor, University of Florence; Co-Founder, International Laboratory of Plant Neurobiology • Italy
Alex Atala
Chef, D.O.M. • Brazil
Francois Couplan
Ethnobotanist and French writer • France
Massimo Bottura
Chef/Owner, Osteria Francescana; Founder, Food for Soul • Italy
Søren Wiuff
Farmer • Denmark
Molly Jahn
Agricultural Scientist and Professor, Dept of Agronomy, University of Wisconsin-Madison • USA
Michel Bras
Chef, Bras • France
Harold McGee
Scientist and Author on the chemistry of food and cooking • USA
David Chang
Chef/Owner, Momofuku Group; Founder, Majordomo Media • USA
Andoni Luis Aduriz
Chef, Mugaritz • Spain
Gastón Acurio
Chef, Astrid and Gastón, Tanta, La Mar, and others • Peru
