Bottura: the world still loves us

What is left of the 12th edition, the day after the 50 Best ? First of all, one has to wonder how come René Redzepi’s Noma has once again come first in the world, even though I understand that making sense out of things is always harder than criticising randomly. Moreover, one has the feeling of having watched the same film for the hundredth time. Of course there have been some news, starting from the change at the top, with the Danish chef returning in first position at the expense of the Roca brothers’ Celler de Can Roca, and then Spain, moving slowly backwards, or the growth of Daniel Humm who is now close to the podium, in fourth position. It is the format, however, that after some time has lost its vigour.

This happens partly because it is a given fact that the protagonists are more or less always the same, and partly because the organisers, the people from English magazine The Restaurant, are stringing out the event. They remind me of the people at the top of the world’s football scene who, in order to make every continent happy and gather as much money as possible from the sponsors, over time have doubled the countries in the finals of the world championship, reaching a total of 32. Of course, in the initial phase there are games that can only be interesting to those playing, because everyone is waiting for Brazil and Germany, Italy and Argentina.

The same happened yesterday at the 50 Best. There are restaurateurs and chefs who know perfectly well they will never get to the top ten, let’s not mention the podium, but are already happy to be there, ready to hang the plaque at the entrance of their restaurant: you can sense it and it makes you sad. These are the stars coming from other parts of the world, outside Europe and the United States, coming from South America and Asia, places to which the organisers are so sensitive they have recently created a continental version of the 50 Best. In the top 10, Alex Atala with Dom, 7th, is the exception. The podium is totally European (Noma-Celler-Francescana), then there are two restaurants from the US (Eleven Madison 4th and Alinea 9th), two Spanish ones (Mugaritz 6th and Arzak 8th) and two English ones (5th Dinner and 10th Ledbury). After all, one can widen the number of finalists in the world football championships as much as he wants, but then the winners are always from Europe or South America.

Then come the organisers, reminding that their event is “a celebration, not a competition”, like those who, when their football team looses, say that “football is just a game” but then go home and hit their children, paraphrasing Jannacci. The person who knows perfectly well this is no joke is the winner, René Redzepi: “Seriously (to the public, Editor’s note): how many of you expected this? Since I suffer from the Woody Allen complex, I had nothing prepared, so I’ll read the preface to my book and dedicate this victory to those who work with me and live with me, to my wife who’s expecting our third child and perhaps, after two girls, it will be the first boy. I’m not the kind of person everyone would like to have around, I’m very, very demanding but we’re all in first place and this is a fucking satisfaction because the road, for us, has never been easy”.

For the Danish chef a quote by the great Serbian coach Vujadin Boskov, who passed away on April 27th, applies: “Champions see highways where others see a path”. It is Redzepi’s vision that is winning. The Spanish chefs, no matter how truly talented and great they are, only represent the long wave of Adrià’s revolution. The news now comes from Northern Europe, their lichens. Spaniards have made the French grandeur retire, freeing new forces that others can use in their own way.

In this sense, Massimo Bottura shines: “It’s a miracle, guys, that I’m always at the third place. Six years in a row at the top: first 11th, then sixth, fourth, fifth and twice third. Italy has no friends, we’re running on our own. I feel this is a huge responsibility. I realise that I am an example to many young people who start this career, I need to weigh my words, choose which to use and when. And there’s no being sorry because I have not moved ahead, or because there are only three Italians among the 50 Best. I’m sure the world still loves us. People want Italy, despite all that is happening. We need to work hard to project ourselves into the future”.