Dispatches from René Redzepi's MAD Symposium in Sydney

Featuring David Chang, Massimo Bottura, and more

MAD is back: Superstar chef René Redzepi brought his culinary symposium to Sydney last weekend for a one-day event. Noma's ten-week Australian pop-up concluded on April 2, and the head honcho of Copenhagen's new Nordic sensation stayed put to host the event that featured a lineup of chef speakers such as David Chang, Massimo Bottura, and Kylie Kwong, as well as Redzepi himself. The theme of the event: "tomorrow's meal."

Redzepi and Chang talked about the evolution of how people eat, particularly over the past 50 years; while both agree that the quality of restaurant food has made incredible strides, they also spoke to how the rise of internet culture has contributed to ubiquity across the food world: "People know more about food than ever before, but at the same time we're having this discussion over and over and over again about the sameness," said Chang. "Whatever country we're in, I feel like people are oftentimes cooking the same thing." A barefoot Redzepi also discussed the chef's growing role as an educator and foraging as "a buzzword that people love to hate."

Rene Redzepi and David Chang at MAD SYD

René Redzepi and David Chang, MAD SYD from madfeed.co on Vimeo.

Italian chef Massimo Bottura of three Michelin-starred restaurant Osteria Francescana tackled the topic of "cooking as a call to action," and wielding his influence to effect change in the areas of food waste and feeding the hungry. He also touched on tradition versus innovation: how messing with your grandmother's recipes is one of Italy's biggest taboos, and how his innovative style of molecular gastronomy-influenced cooking has been seen by some as a threat to the institution of Italian cooking.

Massimo Bottura at MAD SYD

Massimo Bottura: "Cooking is a Call to Act" from madfeed.co on Vimeo.

Head over to MAD's Vimeo channel for more excerpts from MAD SYD including Australian chef Kylie Kwong. MAD will return for the fifth edition of its much larger Copenhagen event on August 28 and 29.

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