23-01-2018
Master della Cucina Italiana, act six, in Creazzo near Vicenza with Massimiliano and Raffaele Alajmo, as well as endocrinologist Mauro Defendente Febbrari. The first lesson was on Tuesday 16th January. It was dedicated to photography, thanks to Gianni Renna who displayed some of his recent photos. There’s nothing to be surprised about, if the first teacher was not a chef or a strictly-speaking food professional.
The chef’s profession (the course still doesn’t extend to the dining room service) has a wider and wider scope, embracing sectors that until a few years ago one couldn’t even imagine. Indeed the theme for the 2018 master is Beyond Image. This in order to stimulate participants to always escape prejudgement, mental structures, tv and social impositions, which are typical of the current digital society, so much so that many believe a dish must be above all beautiful, so it can shine in the photos. And then flavour is only of secondary importance because not everyone goes beyond social screens to taste the dish itself.
A souvenir photo for Massimiliano and Raffaele Alajmo with chef Alfredo Chiocchetti (Massimiliano’s mentor, over 20 years ago), and Mauro Defendente Febbrari
The master spreads over 800 hours of real commitment, with an internship of at least four months in fine dining and strict kitchens. Too many people, deluded by media sirens believe that becoming a chef is easy, an award at the end of a TV programme, and when they face reality it’s hard and they give up.
Four speakers from the first day of the Master della Cucina Italiana. Left to right: Ascanio Brozzetti, pastry chef at Le Calandre with the Alajmo family, Marco Perez, chef at Amistà 33, Diego Magro, sous chef at Le Calandre, and Alessandro Brusamento, representing last year’s class – he did an internship at Osteria Francescana with Massimo Bottura
«We’ll try to go into depth and beyond, to understand the meaning of cooking and hospitality, so as to best represent our profession. This is what we intend to do at our school; work with great attention, create doubts and give value to differences, because it is through confrontation and sharing that you can build an authentic conscience».
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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