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f a l l 2 0 1 8 | 7 7 future of food. In this challenging time for the industry, "human connection is crucial," Redz- epi told MAD and Noma staff days before the 2018 MAD Symposium in August. MAD gatherings resemble TED Talks for the restaurant industry: From the main stage, experts in their respective fields lead in-depth explorations of current events and issues in the food world. Interactive workshops and meals prepared by top chefs, meanwhile, provide additional opportunities for attendees to digest relevant topics. In its sixth iteration, this year's Symposium was titled "Mind the Gap." Amidst global revelations of sexual harassment, abuse, and disparities in representation rocking the res- taurant industry, speakers shared personal an- ecdotes while providing calls to action. "These are uncomfortable topics, but we are catalysts for change," Redzepi said. "This is no longer an industry where it's OK to throw pots at people and scream at them—lead by example and show respect to each other and yourselves." Members of the trade seem to be clamoring for change, as demand to attend the Sympo- sium reached an all-time high. According to Executive Director Melina Shannon-DiPietro, five applications were submitted for each available slot (I was lucky to land a position within MAD as the manager of the Sympo- sium's volunteer team). Guests are selected to represent an amalgamation of gender identi- ties, races, nationalities, sexual orientations, ages, and professions. The same level of thoughtfulness is applied to selecting the chefs, restaurateurs, profes- sors, producers, athletes, and artists who take the stage throughout the event. This year's guests included Wade Davis, the National Foot- ball League's first LGBT-inclusion consultant, and Kim Severson, who was part of the New York Times' Pulitzer Prize–winning team re- porting on sexual harassment in the workplace. Spreading the Message While the MAD Symposium is most certainly about food, it's also about storytelling. Speak- ers often evoked their struggles with identity, representation, and other challenges during their respective segments: In one session, Dan- ish chef Kamilla Seidler—formerly of Gustu in Bolivia—recalled her own experiences with self-doubt during a talk titled "Am I Good Enough?" "I got a call from World's 50 Best say- ing, 'You're Latin America's Best Female Chef of 2016,'" Seidler told attendees. "I was like, 'No, I'm not!'" To extend its messaging and mission beyond the confines of the symposium, which was livestreamed this year, MAD frequently shares content via social media and its website. Small- er talks known as MAD Mondays and other global partnerships keep the organization's tar- get community engaged throughout the year, while its new publication Dispatches aims to serve as an anthology of thoughtful pieces from past symposium speakers. Volume I, a collec- tion of essays titled "You and I Eat the Same" that was published in October, explores how food connects people (the issue was edited by Chris Ying, a previous symposium speaker and the former Editor-in-Chief of the now-defunct yet acclaimed magazine Lucky Peach). A food conference could easily obsess over the trendiest movements in the industry rather than highlight the people behind them, but the MAD Symposium proves the first step to build- ing the food system of the future—one inclusive of women, immigrants, and people of color— only needs a few ingredients. It's fortunate that humanity, empathy, and heart are always free and never go out of season. For more information, visit madfeed.co. A MAD tradition: 600-plus guests, speakers, and staff gather outside the big red tent on the final day of the conference. MAD Executive Director Melina Shannon- DiPietro (at right) is pictured onstage with chef Tatiana Levha and MAD founder René Redzepi (in the background). Arthur Karuletwa, Global Director of Traceability for Starbucks, drew an emotional response from the audience as he discussed his experience as a teenage refugee during the Rwandan genocide of the 1990s. He now uses coffee as a tool for community empowerment. David Zilber, Director of Noma's fermentation lab, led one of the symposium's breakout sessions two months before launching a North American book tour for The Noma Guide to Fermentation with Redzepi. ■cr

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