MAD4

Beautiful People Eat Ugly Fruit

Mon, 23 Feb 2015 00:00:00 GMT

The Portuguese Isabel Soares is co-founder of the cooperative Fruta Feia (“Ugly Fruit”), which fights food waste by selling fruits and vegetables whose appearance does not meet the EU’s standards for distribution. Since fall 2013, Fruta Feia has sold over 20 tons of “unwanted” fruit to its members.

At MAD 4 she explains the importance of fighting food waste, go against the standards of food-beauty and eat ugly fruit.

Save Your Food Save Your Life

Mon, 23 Feb 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Ron Finley is an urban farmer who grew up in the food desert of South Los Angeles. In 2010, fed up with the lack of nutritious options available to his community, he started planting vegetables on one of many neglected curbside dirt strips in the area. Since then, his project has spread and received nationwide attention.

Fulvio in Exile

Mon, 23 Feb 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Fulvio Pierangelini is an Italian chef who began cooking professionally in 1977. In 1980, he took over the dilapidated seafood restaurant Gambero Rosso, in San Vincenzo, Tuscany and turned it into one of the best restaurants in the country. He closed the business in 2008.

Conviviality for One

Mon, 23 Feb 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Julian Baggini is a UK-based writer and philosopher. He is the Founding Editor of The Philosophers’ Magazine and has contributed to several publications, including the Guardian. His most recent book is The Virtues of the Table: How to Eat and Think.

Be Careful What You Wish For

Mon, 23 Feb 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Chris Cosentino ran San Francisco’s Incanto for over a decade, where he cooked in the nose-to-tail style and earned high praise from critics nationwide. He has appeared on several television programs, including Top Chef Masters and Iron Chef America.

Benchmarks Not the BMW

Mon, 23 Feb 2015 00:00:00 GMT

In his presentation from MAD4, California Cuisine pioneer Jeremiah Tower walks the audience through his career, which includes running the kitchen at Alice Waters’ Chez Panisse and, of course, serving as the chef of the glitzy and influential Stars. Tower was among the first modern-day celebrity chefs.

A Diner's Confession on The Flavor of Fantasy

Mon, 23 Feb 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Anya von Bremzen grew up in the former USSR black-marketeering American chewing gum and dreaming of Cuban bananas. Now she writes about global restaurants as a contributing editor at Travel+Leisure magazine. She is also a regular contributor to Food & Wine and Saveur, recipient of three James Beard Foundation awards, and author of five acclaimed cookbooks including The New Spanish Table. Her latest book Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking: A Memoir of Food and Longing is being translated into 15 languages. Anya lives in New York and Istanbul.

How Food and Design Interact

Mon, 23 Feb 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Paola Antonelli is the Senior Curator of Architecture & Design at the Museum of Modern Art, in New York, where she is also Director of Research and Development. She is interested in how design interacts with and influences all aspects of life.

Be Afraid

Mon, 23 Feb 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Albert Adrià spent 23 years at elBulli, working pastry and overseeing innovation at the restaurant’s test kitchen. He left elBulli in 2008 and now has a growing stable of acclaimed restaurants in Barcelona, including Tickets and Pakta.

Why Changing Eating Habits is Important?

Mon, 23 Feb 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Hellstrøm is a chef who from 1982 to 2009 ran Bagatelle, in Oslo, paving the way for the contemporary restaurants of Scandinavia. Throughout his career, Hellstrøm has encouraged the general public to cook and investigate new ingredients and cuisines. He was named a Chevalier by Paul Bocuse in 2007.

At MAD4, Eyvind talks about how to change the way people interact with food by showing a short video of his tv program where he helps families change the way they consume food at home.

Presenting the Zero Foodprint Project

Mon, 23 Feb 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Lucky Peach editor-in-chief Chris Ying talks about Zero Foodprint, the not-for-profit he co-founded with emissions specialist Peter Freed and restaurateur Anthony Myint of Mission Chinese Food which helps restaurants cut their carbon footprint.

In their quest to prove that restaurants can actually help the environment, Ying and co. want to do three things: develop a set of best practices for businesses to follow, work with restaurants to (easily and affordably) transform their operations, and offer certification to those establishments that have gone through the Zero Foodprint process.

Passing on Skills About Slow Food

Mon, 23 Feb 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Darina Allen is a renowned chef, cookbook author, and pioneer of the Slow Food movement in Ireland. In 1983, she founded the Ballymaloe Cookery School. Rachel, her daughter-in-law, is a noted food writer and television presenter who has introduced good cooking to homes in Ireland and across the globe.

Loco'l: Fast Food Made With Ideology

Mon, 23 Feb 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Daniel Patterson and Roy Choi are chefs based on the west coast of the United States. After meeting at MAD in 2013, they decided to join forces and start a chain of inexpensive restaurants to combat the fast food chains that dominate low-income areas.

Opening a Restaurant is Scary

Mon, 23 Feb 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Tatiana Levha is a chef who trained under Pascal Barbot at l’Astrance and Alain Passard at l’Arpège before teaming up with her sister Katia earlier this year to open Le Servan, a restaurant in Paris’ 11th Arrondissement.

How to Clean an Artichoke in 20 Seconds

Mon, 23 Feb 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Pierre Koffmann left his native Tarbes, France in the 1970s to work with Michel and Albert Roux at London’s Le Gavroche and, later, their Waterside Inn in Bray. In 1977, he opened his first restaurant in London, La Tante Claire, which earned three Michelin stars. Koffman was an early pioneer in celebrating offal, and chefs Gordon Ramsay, Marco Pierre White, and Marcus Wareing all passed through his kitchen.

How to Debone a Pig's Trotter

Mon, 23 Feb 2015 00:00:00 GMT

The Perfect Omelette

Mon, 23 Feb 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Crafting Exclusive Farm/Restaurant Collaborations

Fri, 13 Feb 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Cynthia Sandberg, formerly an attorney, is now the owner of the biodynamic Love Apple Farm in Northern California’s Santa Cruz mountains. She has built a special, exclusive relationship with David Kinch’s two Michelin-starred Manresa restaurant in Los Gatos.

At MAD 4 they share their stories and underline the importance of the link between farms and restaurants.

The History of the Celebrity Chef

Sun, 30 Nov 2014 00:00:00 GMT

Paul Freedman has been a Professor of History at Yale University since 1997, where one of his areas of focus is the history of cuisine. In 2007, he edited Food: The History of Taste, an illustrated collection of essays about food from prehistoric to contemporary times.

At MAD 4, the professor traces the history of celebrity chefs, as well as of cooking and restaurants, from the Middle Ages to the present day.

How the Flavors of the World Came Together in Brittany

Thu, 27 Nov 2014 00:00:00 GMT

Olivier Roellinger is a Breton chef who opened the restaurant Maisons de Bricourt in 1982. He became known for a style of cooking heavily influenced by the spice trade, drawing from cultures around the world. He earned three Michelin stars at the restaurant, which he gave back in 2008.

At MAD4, he told the story of his life and career and discussed the potential of today's chefs to make lasting change in cuisine, as well as society.

Soba Master Tatsuru Rai Demonstrates His Craft

Thu, 27 Nov 2014 00:00:00 GMT

Tatsuru Rai is the owner and chef of Sobatei Rakuichi in Niseko, Hokkaido. He operates the 12-seat restaurant, considered one of the world’s great soba houses, with his wife Midori. He mixes, kneads, and cuts all of the buckwheat to order.

He was the first person to appear on stage at the fourth annual MAD Symposium, in Copenhagen. Instead of giving a speech, Tatsuru demonstrated his craft in complete silence.

Does the Apple Fall Far From the Tree?

Thu, 27 Nov 2014 00:00:00 GMT

Madhur Jaffrey is a celebrated actress, television and radio presenter, and author. Born in Delhi, she developed a passion for Indian cuisine as a young drama student in London. Her books, which include An Invitation to Indian Cooking, have influenced cooks throughout the western world.

The Art of the Table

Thu, 27 Nov 2014 00:00:00 GMT

Silvano Giraldin is a front of house legend who for nearly four decades served as maître d’ and managing director of Le Gavroche, the first London restaurant to ever receive three Michelin stars. He is considered one of the godfathers of the art of the table.

At MAD4, he presented an informal reflection on what he sees as essential to a restaurant's success — educating the people that interact with the guests (by investing in them, sending them on educational trips), not hovering over diners ("the best service is the kind that you do not notice") — and explains all the changes, many of them welcome, that have taken place in dining over the past three decades.

About MAD:

MAD is a non-profit transforming our food system by giving chefs and restaurateurs the skills, community, time, and space to create real and sustainable change.