World-renowned chef René Redzepi leaned over a 17th-century volume in Yale’s Sterling Memorial Library and studied a recipe for pickling an “old, fat goose.”
Redzepi snapped a couple of photos of the page with his smartphone. Around the room, other distinguished chefs from across the globe perused some of the earliest cookbooks known to exist — all housed at the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
As Redzepi examined the goose recipe, Paul Freedman, the Chester D. Tripp Professor of History, pointed out a book from 17th-century Italy with the page opened to a dish called “marzipan tortellini.”
“If we see any references in the food magazines to the awesome marzipan tortellini being served in one of your restaurants, we’ll know where it came from,” Freedman said.
The chefs were on campus for the inaugural MAD Yale Leadership Summit, a week-long gathering held June 13-17 that exposed participants to experiences, ideas, and principles intended to help them think creatively and critically about systemic issues that all tie in with food, including sustainable agriculture, labor rights, climate change, obesity, under-nutrition, rural flight, and environmental stewardship, to name a few.
A collaboration between Yale and MAD, a Danish non-profit dedicated to improving food culture founded by Redzepi, the summit included seminars, lectures, field trips, and, as one might expect, delicious meals.
Leading chefs from six countries participated, including Alex Atala, April Bloomfield, David Chang, Jessica Koslow, Kylie Kwong, Olivier Roellinger, Rosio Sanchez, and Michel Troisgros. They were joined by Yale College student associates, who served as hosts and research assistants while enjoying the opportunity to study alongside celebrated chefs.
The chefs visited the library on the summit’s first full day.
Read the full story at Yale News.