#madsymposium

Just into the office: copies of the MAD mini-magazine that will be included in the next issue of Lucky Peach. Hits newsstands Nov. 26.

Today we turn to the MAD presentation of Roland Rittman, the Swedish forager who transformed Restaurant Noma. As René Redzepi explained at the symposium, some years ago, the restaurant had found itself with a depleted pantry in the middle of a merciless winter. Noma's goal is to cook from the landscape, and it seemed, for the first time, that there was nothing left to draw from. 

Then appeared Rittman, looking just like Father Christmas (the staff at the restaurant refers to him as Santa Claus to this day), with a van filled with so many goodies, it seemed like a mirage.

Today, Rittman provides restaurants throughout the region with an array of herbs, mushrooms, berries, and flowers. There's not a time when Rittman's van pulls up and isn't swarmed by a bunch of cooks eager to see what he has in store. 

At MAD3, Rittman spoke of his passion for the earth and for "the most ancient of sacraments," eating. He called for those who love the table to fight for a better food system. He said that "Chefs [especially] have an opportunity to tell stories about food, its origin, history and the environment — don’t miss that chance, because people need it."

"When guests are paying the bill, ask them to go home and help the planet," he added.

The concluding portion of his presentation explained the title of the speech, "Go Wild!" Rittman quoted Rousseau and explained how important it is for people to reconnect with nature in a world that is becoming more and more urban.

In the final moments of his speech, he kneeled before the audience and delivered the following words: 

Our gastronomic, culinary, cultural and revolutionary movement needs a rite of passage, an initiation ceremony, some ritual event that marks a person’s transition from one status to another.

Go to the beach or to the woods or to some part of nature, that you have made your own. Kneel on the ground. Humbly bend your head. Take a bite from a rooted plant. Graze as the animal you are – and contemplate, with universal empathy – our critical impact on this wild symphony of existence.

Thank the Sun for giving us energy, green plants, animals and life! Infuse your identity with The Earth.

  In an interview with NPR, chef Roy Choi talks about his MAD3 speech, in which he spoke of the need for chefs to reach communities that don't typically have access to high-end cooking. "For Choi," writes NPR's Eliza Barclay, "chefs need to find ways to bring healthier food, with the creative flavors they've honed in their restaurants, to the people that will never be able to afford their restaurants."

It's not easy to accept that a photo of a man flipping the bird can be an important inspiration for a celebrated restaurant. But when chef Christian Puglisi talks about what he and his team had in mind while they were opening Relae in Copenhagen four years ago, it becomes a little easier to process. 

As Puglisi explained in August at MAD3, it was the iconic image of Johnny Cash raising his middle finger during a 1969 performance at San Quentin that gave the chef the fuel to open the restaurant he wanted to open. To make Relae happen, it took the willingness to in some ways say "fuck you" to anyone who felt that a restaurant had to follow certain rules to be considered serious.

Puglisi wanted to develop a place that above all reflected the preferences of the people who worked there. "We wanted to make a restaurant that was like our home," he says. And so, gone were the tablecloths and the waiters refilling water glasses throughout the evening, as well as most of the conventional cues of gastronomic luxury, like the foie and caviar. Instead, there was Johnny Cash playing loudly out of crappy speakers, two or three waiters serving 85 people throughout the night (with plenty of help from the cooks), and a focused, four-course menu with an emphasis on vegetables. From the start, Relae was about making complex efforts translate into something simple and direct — something that was an unconventional but valid interpretation of the term "high-end." 

This "small revolution" didn't result purely from Puglisi's philosophy. The circumstances surrounding the opening made the approach inevitable: the bank wouldn't lend the project any money, and Jaegersborggade, the Norrebro Street where Puglisi found the space he could afford, was at the time one of the most violent and drug-infested areas of the city. The only viable option was to open a place where everything but the essential — the food and honest intentions of the staff — was dispensed with. 

As a result, Relae was able to offer ambitious cooking and wine service without having guests break the bank or enter into the experience with unrealistic expectations; the price point gave Puglisi room to take risks. He realized his goal of having a restaurant where a diner might not be thrilled with every single course but can walk out the door at the end of the evening feeling like they've been somewhere that is fun and has something to say.