04-06-2014
Renè Redzepi with the 4 Italian chefs coooking for him at the Enoteca del Roero in Canale (Cuneo), after he was given the award "Orti e frutteti". Left to right, Enrico Crippa of Piazza Duomo in Alba, Redzepi, Gemma Boeri of Osteria da Gemma in Roddino, the resident chef Davide Palluda and Massimo Camia (photo by Carpediem)
see part one
Why betting on vegetables so much? «When I was a kid, in Macedonia, we ate meat on rare occasions. Killing a hen meant giving up an egg every morning. And killing a larger animal represented an even bigger sacrifice. This is why I grew up with vegetables, stewed beans and tomato salads. Not that at Noma people eat these things, but the basic idea is not very distant. For me there’s no doubt that the richness of the aromas in the vegetal world is much greater than what the meat of 2, 3 or 4 different animals can provide».
Redzepi smells his ants, trapped in a tupperware box in Copenhagen
«Ants were offered me for the first time years ago by Brazilian colleague and friend Alex Atala. In the Amazon Rainforest they are part of the daily diet. However, I still resisted tasting them. A little while later, in Mexico, I found myself in front of a basket of steamed ants’ eggs, more expensive than your truffle. I tasted them, chewed them, and discovered they had a very pleasant lemongrass flavour. Eureka: so even cold Denmark is rich of a flavour that we believed was confined to hotter and more exotic climates! That is when the experiments began. Today, starting from the ants we make salt, a paste and we put them in infusion in many different ways. We use them as spices, as a channel for a new aroma. To us, this represents a great new horizon».
Wood sorrel with cricket paste (inside the wood sorrel stalk). This is one of the typical uses of this insect at Noma
FERMENTATION. «With entomophagy, the Nordic Food Lab [in which young Sardinian Roberto Flore recently began to work] we’re also working extensively on fermenting processes. We all love bread, coffee, wine, beer, chocolate. All these, however, are the end result of a fermenting process, that is to say of the anaerobic action of bacteria. Even in this case, we only know a tiny part of all that a bacterium can do when in contact with raw materials. This science is still in its early stage and this is very exciting, stimulating».
Davide Palluda teaches Renè how to make a fresh pasta, piedmontese style
What do you think of Masterchef? «I haven’t got the faintest idea: I don’t even remember when I last watched television…».
And how about being considered the best chef in the world? «I really don’t believe Noma is the best restaurant in the world. I don’t even think a number one in the world can exist. I only know that since I was 15, I’ve been working from 75 to 90 hours per week. I am very happy to do what I do. Because it is a marathon leading to unexplored goals».
2. the end
Gabriele Zanatta’s opinion: on establishments, chefs and trends in Italy and the world
by
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