17-02-2015

Italy, the future is in the world

Identità confirmed that being good at home is not enough, you need to grow abroad as well

A panoramic view of the Auditorium hall during a lesson at Identità Golose 2015 when the theme, the leitmotiv, was A Healthy Intelligence. Photos and photo gallery are curated by Francesca Brambilla and Serena Serrani and their team, who work so well each year

RUSSIAN DEBUT. Viola Cateni of Identità Golose with Vladimir Mukhin, White Rabbit in Moskow

SUBLIMATION OF LEFTOVERS. Massimo Bottura

Photogallery

RUSSIAN DEBUT. Viola Cateni of Identità Golose with Vladimir Mukhin, White Rabbit in Moskow

SUBLIMATION OF LEFTOVERS. Massimo Bottura

SOUTHERN UNITED STATES. Sean Brock of Husk, Charleston

HEALTH AND TASTE. Heinz Beck and Francesca Barberini

EL COQ's CREST. Lorenzo Cogo, El Coq in Marano Vicentino

BLUE LAGOON. Lionello Cera, Antica Osteria Cera, Campagnia Lupia (Venice)

CHICKENS AND STARS. Gian Pietro Damini, Damini e Affini, Arzignano (Vicenza)

SILENCE AND BEAUTY. Kei Kobaiashi, a Japanese pastrychef in Paris

A HOMAGE TO GREAT SPANISH CHEFS. Josep Maria Rodriguez Guerola from Barcelona

THE TASTY KILOMETRE. Corrado Assenza, Caffè Sicilia, Noto (Siracusa)

VEGETARIAN ASCESIS. Pietro Leemann, Joia, Milan

KING OF THE KITCHEN GARDEN. Enrico Crippa, Piazza Duomo, Alba (Cuneo)

GEOMETRICAL INTELLIGENCE. Davide Scabin, Combal.zero, Rivoli (Torino)

ETHICS AND RESPONSIBILITY. Davide Oldani, D'O, Cornaredo (Milan)

ESTEROFILIA? WHAT IS IT? Fabio Pisani e Alessandro Negrini, Aimo e Nadia, Milan

PASSATELLI IN PARADISE. A Massimo Bottura's dish

IN LOVE WITH 'NDUJA. Bryce Shuman, Betony, New York

CHEF AND SOUS-CHEF. Carlo Cracco e Luca Sacchi, Cracco, Milan

PINK BLOOD. PInk bloody rice by Christian Milone, Gastronavicella della Trattoria Zappatori, Pinerolo (Turin)

BEE COOKING. Cristina Bowerman's nest, Glass Hostaria, Rome

A 7 NOTES MENU. Enrico Bartolini, Devero, Cavenago Brianza

ALTITUDINE VERTIGO. Virgilio Martinez, Central, Lima, Perù

BY THE MAESTRO. Gualtiero Marchesi and Gianluca Fusto

VEGETARIAN TURN. Alain Ducasse and Romaine Meder, Plaza Athénéee, Paris

THE CUSTOMER IS NOT SERVED. Marco Giallini and Marco Reitano, Noi di Sala

MISTER 20 RESTAURANTS IN 4 YEARS. Jason Atherton, Pollen Street Social and lots more

THE BREAD GIANT. Great spelt bread cooked with sea herbs and five seaweeds by Gabriele Bonci, Bonci bakery, Rome

GLUTEN FREE. Sweet awakenings by Loretta Fanella

IRON ANGEL. Loretta Fanella, Borgo San Jacopo, Florence

THE DECALOGUE. Niko Romito, 3 Michelin stars in Abruzzo and lots more, including Milan

FRIED DELIGHTS. Fried grain by Renato Bosco

MY BELOVED SPECK. Riccardo Gaspari, El Brite de Larieto, Cortina d'Ampezzo (Belluno)

EARTHY PIZZA. Turnip di Simone Padoan of I Tigli in San Bonifacio (Verona)

A SARDINIAN IN PARIS. Simone Tondo, Roseval, Paris

MOUNTAINS I LOVE YOU. Stefano Ghetta, L' Chimpl da Tamion, Trentino

ALTOPIANO MON AMOUR. Alessandro Dal Degan, La Tana in Asiago (Vicenza)

BRITISH CONSOMME'. Brett Graham, The Ledbury, London

CALABRIA REVISITED. Bottoncini with almonds and 'nduja by Caterina Ceraudo, Dattilo, Strongoli (Crotone)

SHAEP SNACKS. Parsley and oxalys by David Toutain, Paris

SUNDAY MORNING. Massimo Bottura and the Velvet Underground

CAIAZZO PRIDE. Franco Pepe, Grani di Pepe, Caiazzo (Caserta)

PLAY IT AGAIN, DAVIDE. Roy Paci and Davide Scabin

THAT CHEF BY THE LAKE. Paolo Lopriore of Kitchen in Como and Gianluca Biscalchin

SPICY COUPLE. Dylan Jones and Bo Songvisava of Bo.lan in Bangkok with Federico De Cesare Viola

SPAGHETTI PARTY. Massimo Bottura, Riccardo Felicetti, Giuseppe Di Martino and Stefano Vegliani

NEWYORKERS. Daniel Burns of Luskus and Bryce Shuman of Betony

NATURAL SMILES. Lisa Casali and Cristina Bowerman of Glass, Rome

PASTA'S SELFIE. Christian and Manuel Costardi from Vercelli with Eleonora Cozzella

NORDIC-SARDINIAN EXTREMISMS. Roberto Flore, Nordic Food Lab, Copenhagen

THE DREAM TEAM. Identità Milano's official photographers: center from left Marina Siciliano, Matilde Piazzi, Alexander Raedna, Serena Serrani and Celestina Ielmoni; behind them, from left clockwise Federico Cicogna, Caterina Parona, Alessandro Nazzari, Gabriele Milani, Ilaria Scarpa, Serafino Geraci, Giulia Feltrin and Francesca Brambilla

When it all began, in January 2005, on the night between the first and second (and last) day of Identità I had a dream. I dreamt about the congress, its debut, its first 9 speakers (18 altogether), Pietro Leemann and a masterful risotto at Circolo della Stampa, the ovation welcoming Ferran Adrià on stage, the striking lesson by Corrado Assenza and much more. I remember I left home very early to make sure, directly on location, at Milan’s stock-exchange in Piazza Affari, inside Sala delle Grida which had been transformed into a congress centre, that Identità was real. Indeed it was and I sighed with relief seeing that everything was ready to welcome public, exhibitors and speakers.

Ten years and two weeks later, Claudio Ceroni and I interpret Identità Golose in many different ways, a guide and a website, a great event in New York and a second one in the States, in Chicago, but also in London and an Expo fast approaching which we will end with an important participation in Host, the hospitality fair in Rho, where we will develop Identità Future.

CROWDED ROOMS. The audience listens to the lectures beyond the glass of the Sale Blu halls

Yet today, the memory of the three days dedicated to Identità Milano, which opened with Leemann, is still strong. Over a decade, the Swiss chef that Milan adopted around thirty years ago has accentuated his spiritual side increasingly connecting his cuisine to his religious creed, including a Buddhist altar and a ceremony of water purification at the heart of the lesson. All this at 10 am on Sunday 10th February, in front of the overcrowded Auditorium hall participating in a profound yet difficult lecture, what with mantras, products that were put aside because distant from a vegan vision and slides with water crystals.

The “sold-out” auditorium hall confirms the chef from Canton Ticino is right, even though it is easy to be ironic online as a dish full of meatballs or a mixed salad is inevitably easier to understand. Yet what Massimo Bottura said during his first lesson on Monday morning (the second was on Tuesday at Identità di Pasta) applies: “Judge when you will have enough culture to judge”.
Otherwise, it’s best to keep quiet. This is a perfect example of respect towards those who work to offer the best possible product to their clients, risking personally.

Davide Scabin in the studio of Decanter-Radio Due

Even this year, edition number 11, Identità confirms to be an extraordinary workshop for ideas, emotions, meetings, growth. Not only in the three conference rooms, but also in the expo area as demonstrated, for instance, by Davide Scabin who during the three days prepared Amatriciana (with garlic, hurray, hurray) cooked without adding any oil in a pressure cooker at Felicetti’s stand and then explained it on Tuesday at Identità di Pasta. Beat that…

It’s hard for me to say what I liked the best, as I always jump from one place to the other and miss a lot. For sure, Enrico Crippa is always generous in explaining his latest dishes and I’m also sure that I’m no longer one of the few to consider Antonia Klugmann as a chef with an extraordinary mind, someone who thinks before cooking. And then there are Daniela Cicioni’s colours, the universe of pizza, traced on Monday, Enrico Panero’s tour of Italy, the kaleidoscope of spice food, with Bryce Shuman’s (New York) and Caterina Ceraudo’s (Calabria) views of ’Nduja, the bee-tripe by Cristina Bowerman, an auditorium nailed down by Guidara-Humm, a winning duo uniting dining room and kitchen, the marvellous Monday performance with Noi di Sala and actor Marco Giallini, the twenty/thirty-year-olds growing well, following the steps of the big chefs, and the echo the congress centre in Via Gattamelata had on Saturday 7th February at Hangar Bicocca with Expo delle Idee, whose long wave will do the Italian restaurant scene good.

Enrico Crippa during his lesson at Identità Milano 2015 on Sunday 8th February

There were many varied things and my eyes already look at the future, with Identità Golose 2016 in mid March and a horizon that starts to shape in my mind and is connected with the heritage that Milan’s World Fair will leave with Carta di Milano. The time will come when even us Italians will create a guide that will be credible, in the world, just like the Michelin one, to which we have delegated the quality certification of our restaurants. Not that in Italy there are no publications that are just as good, expect we’re the only ones to read them. Of course, they’re only written in Italian. This is not the only reason, however: they speak about Italian establishments without crossing the national borders. We need to go around the world with our excellences and our chefs. Without any compromise or shortcut.