28-01-2017
Earlier this week Ángel León, chef at Aponiente near Cadiz, was nominated "best chef in Europe" at Madrid Fusión. In the picture, he’s sipping a glass of marine bioluminescence, made with proteins from a special type of phytoplankton. This was the topic of the lesson he gave this week at the Spanish congress. He’ll cover the subject also at Identità Milano on Monday 6th March, at 5.15 pm
The lesson given by Ángel León was one of the most awaited and followed of the 15th edition of Madrid Fusión. The chef del mar, reinvigorated after Aponiente’s complete renovations, is enjoying a moment of glory that reached its peak this week with the title of “Best chef in Europe” given by the patron of MF José Carlos Capél thanks to the sustainable-oriented project he’s conducting near Cadiz, in a mill wetted by the waters of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The fact the title is not platonic is proven by his predecessors in the gold book: Belgian Gert de Mangeleer, 3 Michelin stars, and Massimo Bottura last year, awarded thanks to his manifold Refettorio project. Can you cook with light? León has been asking himself this for over 4 years now. «The sea is my big obsession and I lost all my hair because of this project», he debuted with a joke in front of the crowded audience. It’s called marine bioluminescence. «It’s a magic light I first saw when fishing for calamari in front of the beach in Bolonia. I grew up with ‘Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea’ by Jules Verne on my bedside table and Jacques Cousteau’s documentaries on television. The abyss always fascinated me. Even more so, that light ploughing the dark».
Luminescent toast
The ponencia at Madrid Fusión
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born in Milan, 1973, freelance journalist, coordinator of Identità Golose World restaurant guidebook since 2007, he is a contributor for several magazines and teaches History of gastronomy and Culinary global trends into universities and institutes. twitter @gabrielezanatt instagram @gabrielezanatt