MAD is transforming our food system by giving cooks, servers, bartenders, and restaurant operators the skills, community, time, and space to create real and sustainable change in their workplaces, communities, and the world. Recognizing that food is inseparable from some of our most pressing global challenges, MAD unites a global cooking community with a social conscience, a sense of curiosity, and an appetite for change. Together, we envision a better, healthier, more sustainable, more delicious world for cooks and eaters alike.
René Redzepi, chef and co-owner of restaurant noma, launched MAD as a two-day symposium in 2011, when 300 chefs, restaurateurs, servers, and writers gathered in Copenhagen to discuss the future of food. Today, under the leadership of Executive Director Melina Shannon-DiPietro, a 10-member Board of Directors, as well as leading donors, MAD is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that boasts a global network of individuals working to make food better.