Corrado Assenza

Before science classification was made by philosopher Aristotle over 2 thousands year ago, there was only one kind of knowledge, and it was altogether with the world of myth. After the division was established, all the disciplines were born and, among them, hyper-specialized professionals (chemists, politicians, medicians) who are ruling today. Corrado Assenza has never liked the partition of knowledge into several branches: there must be no “salty” chef on this side and no pastry chef on the other «because nature herself is neither sweet or savory: these are human-applied categories, therefore very arbitrary, but we apply to cuisine and, say, to the order of the courses».

The inner substance of this concept is revolutionary because it ejects our palates to a myth dimension, to a comprehension process of the world as a whole, a total worship of nature not yet fragmented into the millions of viewpoints that, in the ages, tortured her, preventing us to catch her sacred whispering. Universe is one and the one from val di Noto is one of the richest microcosm, an eden of flavors, a glutton miniature to explore with no pauses followed by Assenza, a contemporary Virgil, a maestro revealing us all the animal and vegetal hidden secrets surrounding his baroque town: almonds, Bronte’s pistachio grains, carobs, orange flowers honeys, ovine ricotta cheeses, granite, meat (yes, meat) ice-creams, jasmine bushes that hit the way.

Natural tastes that mark the history of Sicily, in the end, with as many faces as those of the populations who invaded the island, ingredient-respectful techniques, aroma extractors, ideas pushing industrial semi-finished products far away from pastry shops’ desks. A universal and mythological worship of good things. A very scientific clap to categories that never cease to call awarded chefs (‘salty’ and pastry chefs…) from all over the world