Michelin, a tribute to Italy

The first guide dedicated by Michelin to Italy was out in 1956 (and didn’t even cover the whole country, it stopped in Siena). The latest one, presented a couple of weeks ago, has edition 2015 written on the cover, edition number 60, that is. There have been many editions, and the same goes for the road covered by Bibendum leaving profound marks in the gastronomic heritage of our country, whether Italians may like it or not. So the Red Guide – the emblematic red shared with Ferrari -, celebrated itself and the Italian restaurant scene in a renovated industrial site around Via Mecenate in Milan.

The organisation was excellent during this evening in which the current eight three-starred chefs in Italy were at work. Six are 100% Italians and two are adopted Italians: Annie Feolde, of Enoteca Pinchiorri in Florence is from Nice, thus French, and Heinz Beck, of La Pergola in Rome, is Bavarian. Then one could count super-Italian Umberto Bombana, three stars in Hong Kong, but the ex British colony is certainly not Italy. So with Feolde (and her precious squires Italo Bassi and Riccardo Monco) and Beck, there are Massimiliano Alajmo (Le Calandre in Rubano, Padua), Massimo Bottura (Osteria Francescana in Modena), brothers Bobo and Chicco Cerea (Da Vittorio in Brusaporto, Bergamo), Enrico Crippa (Piazza Duomo in Alba, Cuneo), Niko Romito (Reale in Castel di Sangro, L’Aquila), Nadia and Giovanni Santini, mother and son (Dal Pescatore in Canneto sull’Oglio, Mantua).

It had never happened before that one could see, at the same time and in the same place, 24 stars at work, however, as pointed out with a touch of irony by one of the managers of the tire giant, “we are the Michelin Guide and chefs are always kind with us”. In other words: they are dead scared, no way one cannot be present. As Feolde said, the only woman in the world who lost the third star and then conquered it once again, “when they downgrade you, they kill you”. You are not perceived as a two-star, as before the ultimate promotion, but you become a failure. It is a meagre consolation when the inspectors say they made a mistake in judgement, what counts it is what was decided.

Yesterday they had the nice idea of dividing the sixty years into six decades and assign the interpretation of each to one or the other, with the protagonists at work inside very nice stands. So Santini and Crippa cooked the Sixties, Pinchiorri and Romito the Seventies, Beck the Eighties, Alajmo the Nineties, Cerea the Zero years, and Bottura the Two thousand and ten. The dishes, in order of chef mentioned: Pumpkin tortelli; Piedmontese rice (with gianduia); Pigeon, fondant onion and spinach; Light veal stock with cinnamon with beef ravioli; Tuna with tuna sauce; Fried scampi rolls; Pancetta mousse with salted codfish carpaccio and Foie gras brittle.

All the Michelin staff was present, starting from American Michael Ellis, that is to say the number one when it comes to guides. The party had an important moment between the finger food welcome and the main courses. Before dismissing the chefs from the stage, Massimiliano Alajmo received a sculpture depicting bibendum because he’s the youngest chef to receive three stars in the history of the Red Guide, including France, of course.

It happened in November 2002, when the edition 2003 was presented. The chef from Padua had turned 28 on May the 6th. Never, even later, a twenty-something year old would reach this goal, so young. And when many professionals, especially chefs and press officers, present themselves or their client as the youngest starred chef in Italy, they should be reminded that Massimiliano received his first one when he was still a minor, at 17 in December 1991 (1992 guide). Then one could say that the star in Rubano was also in part thanks to his mother Rita who had just handed over the kitchen, still, undoubtedly, the second, in December 1996 (1997 guide) was all his own, at an unusually young age: 22. A nice gesture on behalf of the French.