A morning of healthy intelligence

Eleven years of Identità Milano, today an established event in the food world. The lay ritual is introduced by Claudio Ceroni, patron of Magenta Bureau, who conveys all of his pride for the countless events in which the brand is now involved; it’s then the turn of Paolo Marchi who mentions the next, big event, namely Identità Expo. Yet time is pressing and the first lesson must begin: a trip down memory lane with a photo from Identità Milano 2005, with Pietro Leemann with a little less white hair. He has now acquired the appearance of a wise person and celebrates the other morning ritual, a very spiritual one: «I will be your priest». The opening of the conference appertains to him “de jure”, as this year’s theme is “A healthy intelligence” and he «has always been cooking vegetarian food though he would call it “natural fine dining” because people would otherwise get scared», commented Marchi.

We were talking about liturgy and this is no joke: father Pietro brings the pure spring water from his Valmaggia and celebrate a Ticinese-Tibetan ritual that changes the arrangement of the liquid’s molecules. Leave those doubtful sneers from your faces, even the worst unbeliever will agree the dish presented was of the highest quality: Bread and water; water is the above mentioned one, bread is seasoned with raw black cabbage, borlotti beans cream, fermented yuzu, almond cheese. Final vegetable chiffonade on top, the bread was kneaded with grated apples, whole wheat, mother yeast, salt, sugar, spelt. All this was dished out by his “helpers” Marco Tinti, Sauro Ricci and Fabrizio Marino «transferring spiritual strength into food, which is a material element. Through our energy, we can transform water, the environment and ourselves» says Leemann who’s getting deeper and deeper in his role, in coherence with the choice of style he took a long time ago.

It is then the turn of an almost-pope cardinal who comes from France. Alain Ducasse, presented by Enzo Vizzari, is in plain clothes, no toque but the bourgeois mise of someone who, being a successful entrepreneur, owns an empire of food with a multitude of facets. So he starts to honour the small: «We need to protect differences: we should not look for a global success, but at smaller realities, where biodiversity is protected. There’s no space for homologation». While he theorises, his chef Romaine Meder from the Plaza Athénée in Paris cooks the new totally-vegetal-ducassian-formula, «we want to be an expression of nature’s generosity». The link is quinoa, made crispy in the oven; it is the base for pan-fried winter roots, wet with a vegetal sauce made with black truffle which is later abundantly grated on top, «this is the current forte, made by extracting flavours. This is the beginning of the end of risotto», he laughs, even though he admits: «It’s easier to get the “wow” effect with foie gras».

He is proven wrong right away, because the following lecture is truly one with a wow factor, the author of which is Enrico Crippa, in excellent shape: «We’re cooking Jerusalem artichokes, turnips, chards, because this is what the season offers – he begins. – Indeed it would be nice if Identità Milano were scheduled in other seasons too, to allow us to face other ingredients» (to which Marchi confirms he’s always a step ahead: «Next year the congress will begin one month later, it’s already planned»). This tit for tat seasons a series of phenomenal dishes: Smoked seafood salad (with oil aromatised with herrings, crab meat, powdered dry fennel and vegetal carbon recalling a fire in Piazza Duomo’s vegetable garden. This is completed by a few flakes of katsuobushi and the candied lemon that Corrado Assenza brought to Alba). This is not the only magic: daikon becomes a bresaola, marinated in miso sauce and seasoned with rocket salad, oil and grana padano («Quintessential Crippa», Marco Bolasco says from the stage). The Roman broccoli then meet a mussel sauce, the beets meet a savoury citrus fruit marmalade... The end is sweet: scorzonera soaked in liquorish syrup and matched with a custard cream made with buckwheat.

The morning finale in the auditorium was with Australian Brett Graham, born near Sydney yet at work in London, a total of three stars with two at his The Ledbury in Nottingh Hill and for gastropub Harwood Arms in Fulham, for which he felt he owed an apology: «Remember – he wrote – even though we serve fabulous food, we’re still a pub, the atmosphere is lively, friendly. In fact sometimes In fact, sometimes it is even too chaotic». He’s the game magician, when Massimo Bottura gets on the stage he praises him for that famous grouse… Here in Milan, however, he adapts himself to the theme of the day and presents beets cooked in clay for one hour at 84°C with other vegetables and then cut into very thin slices and paired with smoked eel; and buffalo milk flooding the various parts of a sturgeon, meat, skin, etcetera.