08-03-2017
Italian Renaissance, but in the kitchen. This is what Massimo Bottura suggested during his speech at Identità Golose Milano
Italian Renaissance in the kitchen is what Massimo Bottura suggested from the stage of Identità Milano: a constant parallel with art and history, the rediscovery of an excellence that belongs to us, with a plus given by an acquired awareness: «Now, as never before, we’re all aware of our past which, filtered through contemporary thought and amplified by sharing [a new and decisive element] and by a biodiversity of food (and ideas) that has no equal in the world, gives life to a new Italian cuisine, never conceived until now». Modern Italian chefs are aware of their role. They take part in a system that can interact with them also in terms of culture. They hold the necessary knowledge: «The most important ingredient for the chef of the future is culture».
A large crowd was attending the lesson
Bottura and his staff with the prize given to the best restaurant in the world according to the World’s 50Best
One could name even other examples: Riso camouflage was born thanks to a distant inspiration given by Luigi Cremona, «enough risottos, let’s focus on the grain instead». Or Lepre nel Bosco, which is inspired by Vizzari himself, back from Paris, with a hint at Picasso. And Riso cacio e pepe, «which looks like a painting by Pietro Manzoni».
Bottura’s riso camouflage
Today there’s Riso camouflage, we were saying: «I wanted to enhance the extract of winter chlorophyll, but the taste by itself was too dull. So with Davide and Taka I took some rice with squid ink, added two tablespoons of rice with chlorophyll, then rice with a water with powdered porcini and truffle peel, a sort of “surf and turf” dish». Or the broken Tiramizucca, following Oops, mi è caduta la crostatina, which will be available at Francescana from October and starts from a pumpkin from Mantua: «a dish recalling my origins, my childhood», which becomes a “tortello that wants to become a cannolo”, and Tiramizucca «a concentrate of pumpkin, mustard, campanine apples, amaretti biscuits, brittle…». It’s now broken because «we’re working on a millefoglie, that will be included in the menu in the future, so a broken dish is the perfect emblem of the evolution of imperfection».
«Just like Renaissance uses culture to recuperate the great Roman and Greek classics after the barbaric invasions, so we Italian chefs are doing the same today: we were subjected to the invasion of nouvelle cuisine, of fusion, Spanish avantgarde, New Nordic Cuisine». It’s time for a comeback. Translated into English by Slawka G. Scarso
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journalist born in 1974, for many years he has covered politics, mostly, and food in his free time. Today he does exactly the opposite and this makes him very happy. As soon as he can, he dives into travels and good food. Identità Golose's editor in chief