31-10-2014
Massimo Bottura, chef and patron at Osteria Francescana in Modena during the presentation of Vieni in Italia con me on the stage of Eataly Smeraldo in Milan last October 28th
Modena, last Saturday, October 25th, one thousand and five hundred people came to his town to listen to him. And on Tuesday 28th he was in Milan at Eataly Smeraldo. Rome will come later, on Sunday November 30th, where he will certainly not go unnoticed. Even though the English version of his first life gospel is called Never Trust a Skinny Italian Chef, the very thin chef is certainly not him, and besides when it comes to Massimo Bottura, for it is of him we’re talking, that skinniness has not to be intended as physical thinness, but as an aridity of mind, heart and character.
In the Italian version, the title changes and becomes Vieni in Italia con me, Come to Italy with me. Vieni in Italia con me however, is also the title of the fourth chapter and, before that, of a book from 1937 dedicated to Benito Mussolini by the founder of Cucina Italiana, Umberto Notari, a small volume that the wife of the chef, Lara Gilmore, American from New York, once found at a second hand book stall.
The book, published by Phaidon and co-published in Italy by L’ippocampo, 39.90 euros with photos by Carlo Benvenuto and Stefano Graziani, “is not a recipe book – the chef from Modena stresses – even though you will find some recipes at the end”, so much so, I add, that in the introduction we can read “This is a profoundly Italian recipe book”. But the word recipe, in this case, is the synonym for some very Italian stories. It is, in fact, his biography, not the kind of recipe book everyone seems to have the right to write today. It is the story of a 50-year-old man who used to study law and who, in 1986, at 20, was guided by his brother Paolo in the middle of the countryside and didn’t understand much. Campazzo was a little spot, with more fog than houses, in one of which there was an osteria whose owner was a real talent for car engines and Paolo was looking for a mechanic for his Saab car dealership. And what about Massimo? Massimo, as his brother hoped, understood that the family profession, selling hydrocarbon, was not for him “and so I happened to become the owner of a restaurant in the middle of nowhere”.
Livornese style mullet according to Massimo Bottura’s recipe
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born in Milan in March 1955, at Il Giornale for 31 years dividing himself between sports and food, since 2004 he's the creator and curator of Identità Golose. blog www.paolomarchi.it instagram instagram.com/oloapmarchi
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