Empowering People to Create Sustainable Change with Melina Shannon-DiPietro of MAD

Every week, I say how excited I am about the guest. And I mean it every week but maybe I mean it just a little bit more this week. Melina Shannon-DiPietro is the Executive Director of MAD. MAD was started by Rene Redzepi of restaurant noma in 2011 to empower the global hospitality industry to create sustainable change and transform food systems for the future. However, Melina’s relationship with the food and environment space actually starts prior to that when she was the co-founder and executive director of the Yale Sustainable Food Project. She’s a true pioneer when it comes to exploring the relationship people have with both the planet and the food they eat. This episode covers a lot of ground from the MAD Academy that trains hospitality industry professionals in leadership and environmental sustainability to MAD’s foraging app and how we can create a more diverse and inclusive conversation around environmental responsibility and food. This episode is coming out August 14 2023 and if you happen to be in the Copenhagen area for the Copenhagen Cooking Festival please check out MAD’s young alumni event, called Palate Cleanser, the Ideals Restaurant. The event asks the question – Would eating at a restaurant where the hidden costs of food are revealed still be palatable? That event is being coordinated by Aly Beveridge, a grad of MAD Academy’s Environment and Sustainability Program. Please also make sure to head to MADFeed.co to sign up to the MAD email newsletter. Links from the Show MAD and MAD Newsletter – https://madfeed.co MAD Instagram – https://instagram.com/themadfeed?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== MAD YouTube – https://youtube.com/@MADsymposium ‘The Future We Choose’ by Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac – https://bookshop.org/a/95758/9780593080931 ‘The Ministry for the Future’ by Kim Stanley Robinson – https://bookshop.org/a/95758/9780316300131 ‘The Third Plate’ by Dan Barber – https://bookshop.org/a/95758/9780143127154 Eliot Coleman – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eliot_Coleman ‘What gives me the appetite to be the person that I am?’ Chido Guverra talk at MAD Symposium – https://youtu.be/87jfMmR5MkY