MAD7

The Intentional Restaurant

Tue, 16 Dec 2025 10:14:11 GMT

How do you create a workplace you actually want to be in?

It's the question Erin Wade asked when she founded Homeroom, a mac and cheese restaurant in Oakland, California. Her answer is "collective success," where every decision is made with the team, customers, and community in mind.

At Homeroom, that means weekly meetings where everyone, from dishwashers to servers, digs into the financials and pitches ideas on how to improve. And the results speak for themselves: Homeroom has some of the highest revenue per square foot in the industry, retention rates 10x the national average, and a safety system now used by restaurants and bars worldwide.

The Vegetable Orchestra

Mon, 29 Sep 2025 08:36:58 GMT

Carrot and parsnip flutes, watermelon bongos, a pumpkin string bass and cabbages—of the heavy metal variety—filled the tent when Vienna's Vegetable Orchestra proved that fresh produce makes beautiful music.

Sometimes you should play with your food.

Yvon Chouinard in Conversation with Lisa Abend

Sat, 27 Sep 2025 15:00:56 GMT

In conversation with Lisa Abend, Yvon Chouinard shares how starting as a blacksmith making climbing tools led to building a company guided by values over profit. He describes hitting $1 billion as the worst day of his life.

After 50 years in business, Chouinard champions purposeful growth over endless expansion. Patagonia is now steward-owned, and the earth is their only shareholder. They've donated over $100 million in excess profit to environmental causes.

Their conversation covers everything from corporate responsibility to table salt.

Christine Schauflinger's Strudel

Tue, 23 Sep 2025 14:16:00 GMT

A moment of paper-thin, doughy zen from strudel queen Christine Schauflinger, chef and owner of Gasthaus Theuerwang.

Chinampas are the Future

Fri, 19 Sep 2025 13:05:05 GMT

Pablo Usobiaga of Arca Tierra believes the future lies in the past.

He works directly campesinos—peasant farmers—to recover Mexico’s 4,000-year-old chinampas: floating gardens that once fed 1.5 million people. Today, less than 10% of them survive.

Campesinos are their custodians. Some of society’s most overlooked workers, campesinos are in fact on the frontlines of our climate crisis. As Pablo explains, they are guardians of critical knowledge. Learning from them is how we’ll walk ourselves back from the ecological cliff.

Leading with Generosity

Mon, 15 Sep 2025 13:21:09 GMT

Chef Josh Niland is rewriting the rules of whole-fish cooking at Sydney’s Saint Peter and Fish Butchery—turning every scale, bone, and organ into something extraordinary.

Before his MAD talk, he broke down a fish with the noma team—but his real lesson was about leadership: generosity, space for creativity, and knowing what sparks each person on your team.

Legacy in Action

Thu, 11 Sep 2025 13:42:59 GMT

The Loiseau sisters carry forward the legacy of their father Bernard Loiseau, the legendary French chef who transformed a crumbling restaurant in rural Burgundy into a three-Michelin-star powerhouse—then taking his own life at the height of his success in 2003.

Blanche and Bérangère’s mother kept the flame alive after tragedy. Now, they’ve now taken the helm of a hospitality group that spans 6 restaurants, 2 hotels, and 130 employees. Their approach differs from their father’s obsession with Michelin stars—they’re building a more sustainable vision still in his timeless values: excellence, authenticity, innovation.

Bernard Loiseau’s ‘cuisine des essences’—bringing lightness and freshness through produce—changed French gastronomy forever. Now his daughters are honoring his legacy while carving out space to breathe and grow.

The Art of Staying Engaged

Sat, 06 Sep 2025 07:43:03 GMT

At the age of seven, Chido Govera was left orphaned, caring for her grandmother and little brother in rural Zimbabwe. At ten, she refused an arranged marriage—choosing instead a path that took her from foraging for survival to building something extraordinary.

The Future of Hope Foundation has now transformed over 10,000 households in Zimbabwe and beyond through mushroom farming. What started with learning to grow oyster mushrooms from corn stalks has become a movement rooted in Ubuntu philosophy—“I am because we are”—where communities solve their own problems with the right knowledge and support.

Everytime she speaks with MAD, Chido shows us the power of working “one mushroom at a time”—turning complex agricultural science into something rural communities can master themselves. Sometimes the most radical act is simply believing people are capable of more than their circumstances suggest.

Looking at Nature with Appetite

Mon, 25 Aug 2025 19:15:47 GMT

Ángel León known across Spain as "el Chef del Mar", believes the ocean holds answers we haven't thought to ask for.

He transformed a 200-year-old abandoned mill into Aponiente, his three-Michelin-starred laboratory in Cádiz, proving the future of food may lie below the surface.

We’re only eating a small portion of what the sea has to offer. That’s why León works with the unwanted parts of the fish—the cuts and species that typically get discarded.

He’s developed the world’s first omega-3 rich grain that grows entirely in seawater, marine soybeans with higher protein content than their terrestrial cousins, and techniques for transforming discarded moray eel into dishes so convincing you’d swear you were eating pork.

By 2026, he plans to open a two-hectare estuary where guests will eat live fish and mollusks pulled directly from the water. His philosophy: look at the ocean “with hunger,” seeing every element as potential nourishment rather than waste.

Translation by Pablo Soto Rodriguez Gil

José Andrés & René Redzepi in Conversation

Fri, 22 Aug 2025 18:44:13 GMT

These days, José Andrés, founder of World Central Kitchen, finds that his best work happens in the most impossible places. Unfamiliar kitchens where nothing works, where broken equipment forces the kind of creativity and collaboration that comfort never could.

His parents always cooked with a certain resourcefulness. His father made big paellas, always adding more rice for more guests. His mother turned kitchen scraps into croquetas—a generosity that has stayed with him through his humanitarian work.

"Life starts at the end of your comfort zone," he says. While he's still learning what that means, he knows one thing for certain: hugs beat selfies, every time.

In conversation with René Redzepi, José opens up about fear, hope, and why being pro-humanity means showing up for everyone—even when it's hard.

The Future Library

Thu, 21 Aug 2025 13:12:42 GMT

In 2014, artist Katie Paterson planted 1,000 spruce trees in Norway's Nordmarka forest and asked the world a simple question: what if we created something meant to outlast us all?

Future Library is a century-spanning artwork where each year until 2114, a celebrated writer contributes a manuscript that won't be read until the trees become the paper.

Katie Paterson and Anne Beate Hovind share the logistics behind this temporal experiment: negotiating Oslo's first 100-year municipal contract, managing the anxiety of protecting trees across decades, and creating annual forest rituals built on mutual trust.

Hospitality Without Hangovers

Mon, 11 Aug 2025 13:38:55 GMT

The force behind Ben’s Friends speaks on how the restaurant business has been both his salvation and his enabler.

Starting as a doorman checking IDs, Mickey Bakst discovered his passion for hospitality, creating magic for guests who saved all year for once-in-a-lifetime meals. But the same industry that gave him purpose also normalized his addiction. “I found a shelter from the storm, a place where my addiction was not only accepted, but condoned.”

After nearly dying and waking up in a psychiatric ward, Mickey got sober in 1982. Decades later, he co-founded Ben’s Friends: a recovery community specifically for F&B workers. Today, it has 26 chapters across the U.S. with daily meetings worldwide.

For more information on joining Ben’s Friends meeting: https://www.bensfriendshope.com/meetings/

What Happens When We Don't Kick The Ladder Away

Thu, 17 Jul 2025 08:09:18 GMT

Asma Khan entered the restaurant world at 45. Then she became the first British chef on Chef's Table.

At MAD7, she shared how her London restaurant, Darjeeling Express, came to life. She made the bold decision to open a restaurant staffed by grandmothers and mothers—home cooks who had never worked in professional kitchens, armed with "terrible knife skills but huge hearts." 

Chefs constantly credit their mothers and grandmothers as their biggest culinary influences. But these women are rarely part of the restaurant team. Asma built her kitchen differently, bringing softness to an industry obsessed with toughness. She’s proven that kindness is a form of strength. 

Matty Matheson & Courtney Storer in conversation with Lisa Donovan

Mon, 14 Jul 2025 13:25:10 GMT

Matty Matheson and Courtney Storer have been close friends for years, but their connection deepened at MAD six years ago.

Today, the supremely dynamic duo works together on The Bear. Courtney serves as culinary producer on the iconic series. Matty works as consultant, producer, actor, and the chef who brings lionhearted authenticity to every kitchen scene. At MAD7 with Lisa Donovan, they unpack how the show uses intense, theatrical reality to examine human connection.

Their conversation is expansive. They dig into working with actual family while creating chosen family. The vulnerability required in both acting and cooking. How food becomes a character itself—carrying both nostalgia and trauma.

How to Build to Last

Fri, 11 Jul 2025 18:11:15 GMT

For Arianna Occhipinti, talking about wine is like talking about love.

Both require the right tools to avoid repeated failure. Both have the power to transform obstacles into meaning.

At 22, Arianna started making wine in Sicily's Cerasuolo di Vittoria region. Today her biodynamic methods—wild fermentations, no filtration, cover crops mixing 15+ plants—yield over 120,000 bottles per year. SP68 Rosso, her signature blend, combines native Frappato and Nero d'Avola grapes.

Building her story piece by piece, Arianna shows how individual vision can reshape an entire industry's approach to sustainable winemaking.

A Legacy Under Water

Mon, 07 Jul 2025 12:07:32 GMT

With a confidence most of us could only dream about when we were their age, the seventh-generation fishing guides told us about the threat that salmon farming poses to their family tradition, their river, and the wild species itself. Escaped fish weakening wild populations, sea lice spreading rapidly, antibiotics and pesticides building up in fish fat.

Their message to the chefs in the audience was crystal clear: stop serving sea farmed salmon.

Thomas Keller & René Redzepi in Conversation

Thu, 03 Jul 2025 13:13:39 GMT

In this conversation between Thomas Keller and René Redzepi, who worked under him early on at French Laundry, they discuss what it means to be part of an interconnected culinary lineage. Keller traces his path back to his mother getting him that first kitchen job, which led to his focus on making people happy through food.

They cover mentorship, sleep over burnout, nurture over ego and building leaders who surpass you. Plus, Thomas Keller meets Thomas the Goat—you'll have to watch for that one.

MAD7 | Build to Last

Thu, 03 Jul 2025 08:44:53 GMT

At MAD7, we explored how we can best ensure that our planet, our communities, our industry, and we ourselves continue to thrive—now, and in the future.

Welcome to MAD.

How Can We Be Good Ancestors?

Tue, 01 Jul 2025 07:00:00 GMT

When philosopher Roman Krznaric voted in a UK election, he handed his ballot to his kids. Their futures hang on today's decisions way more than his does.

In his talk at MAD7, based on his book, The Good Ancestor: How to Think Long Term in a Short-Term World, Krznaric argues we've colonized the future. We're using it as a dumping ground for problems we can't (or won't) solve.

But what if we thought like ancestors instead?

Drawing on cathedral builders, Victorian engineers, and Indigenous traditions of long-term thinking, he asks us to stretch our imaginations past the next quarter, the next election, or even the next generation…

Cooking in Community

Thu, 26 Jun 2025 11:27:43 GMT

Why would a talented young chef choose to open a restaurant in a part of Denmark so disdained by other Danes that they refer to it as the rotten banana?

For Emilie Qvist, opening a restaurant (or two!) in a place with more pigs than people meant cheaper rent and closer proximity to nature. But as she explained in her talk at MAD7, it also gave her the chance to make an impact. With first Medvind and now Lyspunktet, she found a way to support the local economy, showcase local fishing and farming, and create a place for local residents to celebrate the big and small moments of their lives. “You become someone there,” she said. “Someone who knows your farmers’ names, and what their struggles are, someone who knows your neighbors.”

In the rotten banana, in other words, she found community.

How to Take Over Your Parent's Restaurant in Five Easy Steps

Sat, 21 Jun 2025 07:00:00 GMT

Following his father suffering a debilitating stroke in 2019, Justin Pichetrungsi made the daunting decision to take over his family’s 43-year old restaurant, Anajak Thai, in Los Angeles, California.

From working as an art director at Disney to deciphering his family’s recipe cards, he reflects on what it means to inherit something sacred. And how, apparently, it all starts by arguing with your parents.

How to Fall in Love with a Delicious Future

Thu, 19 Jun 2025 07:00:00 GMT

Climate activist and imagination catalyst Rob Hopkins walked on stage in a spacesuit and asked us to time travel. Not to escape, but to dream.

He wanted us to imagine a distant utopia instead of another dystopian warning. Together, we pictured a 2030 within reach: greener cities, bicycle rush hours, shared meals, restored soil, more joy.

His new book, How to Fall in Love with the Future, argues that hope works better than despair. The future doesn't arrive fully formed. We build it, story by story, meal by meal.

MAD7 | Build to Last - A Wrap on Day Two

Fri, 30 May 2025 09:00:37 GMT

MAD7 | Build to Last - A Wrap on Day One

Fri, 30 May 2025 08:58:08 GMT

MAD - About Symposium

Wed, 07 May 2025 06:13:30 GMT

MAD Symposium is back!

Tue, 29 Oct 2024 00:00:00 GMT

After a seven-year hiatus, the most exciting gathering in food returns for mind-blowing ideas, inspiring talks, and meaningful connections. Under Build to Last, we’ll explore how we can best ensure that our planet, our communities, our industry, and we ourselves continue to thrive—now, and in the future.