Big Red Tents and Dreams

This summer has flown by like a dream. We had very little heat so it was rather surreal most of the time. Then I attended MAD, a culinary think-tank in Copenhagen organized by Renee’ Redzepi of Noma restaurant and David Chang of Momofuku in NY..This years curator and guest host was Chef Alex Atala from Brazil. My trip was also very dreamlike. I didn’t have a lot of extra time, so flew in the day before. Copenhagen was the opposite of Italy. Everyone was tall and blond, riding bikes and smiling. The city was spotless. My mind is still spinning from the event. Immagine two days of culinary summer camp, with 600 fabulous incredible people all hyped for the event. Each day was packed with inspirational speakers. Subjects varying, but the subject was “What’s Cooking?” There was the huge big read tent for the lectures and the other tents were for our breaks. We shuttled over to the island for the meetings and each trip back and forth was also time to bond. Here by chance is Farmer Lee Jones and Ron Finley. No one wears tags saying who you are or what you do, it is all about just talking and sharing information. Before the conference, I was lucky to be invited to AMASS for lunch with a friend and her friends. The chef, an American who had cooked with Thomas Keller and with Renee Redzepi, created a relaxing fun spot, just down from where they tents were for the conference. We had the tasting menu and it was really lovely. No ants, no foam. Intese flavors and simplicity. But back to the meetings. The speakers were over the top and covered such a vast area of thought on what is cooking in various parts of the world and who is cooking as well as problems such as a lack of food and waste. I highly recommend you watching the video’s that they have put online. The program began in silence with the preparation of Soba by Tatsura Rai. He owns a small 12 seater restaurant and prepares the soba to order. If only everyone had such respect for the art of pasta making and feeding people. If you go to the MAD FEED, you will be able to watch all the videos and hopefully be as inspired to do something as I am. It is really impossible to list all the incredible speakers, I think each of us attending got something different from each one. My biggest jolt was from Ron Finley and his lecture on Guerilla Gardening in South LA. I am blessed to live in Italy where almost everyone has an “orto” their small gardens anywhere they can. I think they invented the Guerilla gardening– first plant it, then see if anybody cares. But the most important thing is to grow your own. When I came home, I went down to the local city gardens, you can rent a space 110sq meters, for 40 euro a year, including the water. “growing your own food is like printing your own money” – Ron Finley I want to be a part of the revolution– getting everyone in the garden and then in the kitchen. Does this video speak to you too??? I will be posting and writing about the other speakers that really impressed me– but now have to go plant something! My friend, Dario Cecchini, opened MAD last year and here is is with Ron. Such positive energy, please let it be contagious.