Jonah Reider – Keynote Speaker

Jonah Reider has become one of New York’s hottest chefs. Whilst studying at Columbia University, he has created Pith, an internationally renowned supper club in his dorm room with capacity for 4 people only. It is a space for people to come together over a slow, social, and inexpensive meal. Pith has challenged what it means to “go out for dinner” and is rapidly growing into a brand that combines dining, music, and art into something alluringly intimate and quirky. There are over 5000 people on the waiting list.

Reider is also interested in the ways in which business behaviour and structure impact macroeconomic phenomena such as inequality or volatility. He worked for Nobel Prize Winner Joseph Stiglitz, exploring the mixed consequences of globalisation and the nature of inequalities in various nations around the world.

He has also been an organiser and activist for economic justice, and is currently writing a thesis on worker-owned cooperatives, quantitatively examining what types of communities best support stable and equitable growth.

Reider’s comments about dining and social experiences have been publicised across the globe in outlets including The New Yorker’s Talk of The Town, The Wall Street Journal’s Weekend Profile, New York Magazine, NPR, USA TODAY, Le Figaro (Paris), Daily Mail (London), The TODAY Show and CNN. In collaboration with various celebrated cultural institutions, Reider now curates a novel series of Pith pop-ups: social and artistic events that conspicuously incorporate dining and food.

Reider’s eclectic set of interests and accomplishments have led him to write political commentary, economic and social theory, and even comedy food reviews. He has travelled extensively both to conduct research as well as to present at academic and governmental conferences.