02-04-2019
Paolo Marchi, Massimo Bottura, Davide Oldani, Andrea Berton, Carlo Cracco and Cinzia Benzi on the stage of Identità Milano 2019 to celebrate Alain Ducasse. All the photos are from Brambilla-Serrani
Only Massimo Bottura- who on top of being the great chef we all know, uses his virtuous story-telling full of adrenalin as his weapon of mass fascination - dares to tease the guest and friend: «He’s convinced he invented panettone! And balsamic vinegar too! Ah, no, actually he says he’s just improved vinegar!», the audience cheers and laughs. As for the other people on the stage, other attitudes prevail: Carlo Cracco is stuffy and polite; Davide Oldani is respectful, he offers the French chef a gift (aCavallina Steph, a design chair, entirely made of leather, signed by Stefano Conticelli’s prestigious Bottega Conticelli in Castel Giorgio, in Umbria); Andrea Berton seems a little touched too, as if his strong Friulan armour has melted a little.
Four stars celebrating a star, or rather a superstar if you wish, «it’s the first time in the history of Identità Milano that we pay homage to a foreign chef», Paolo Marchi points out from the stage, calling Dudu, this is the nickname Henri Gault gave to the French master of cuisine, monsieur Alain Ducasse. The latter, follows his usual role: he goes along with docility and kindness, keeping a distance, but only just enough, which just confirms what everyone already knew and now is being whispered around the audience: «How elegant! What a lord!».
Alain smiles. And speaks: «Italian and French cuisine are deeply connected. Even in my case, when creating the dishes for my restaurant Le Louis XV in Monte Carlo, I found a lot of inspiration in your cuisine. I started from your foundations and improved them – here’s a cutting remark served with a smile – And the reason why we’re now here with Berton, Bottura, Cracco and Oldani is that each one of them has been at Louis XV, and learnt rigour, discipline and the necessary techniques for fine dining». Bottura adds a meaty detail: «True. It was 1994, I had sold Trattoria del Campazzo to do an internship at Louis XV [the following year, he opened Francescana]. At the end, I had a notebook full of details on everything I learnt. Ducasse tore it into pieces, in front of my eyes. We didn’t speak for two years, but then I understood». What he meant was, is: you’ve learnt plenty of things here. But now you have to develop your own style, you mustn’t copy me. «Today I must say – the chef from Modena continues – that my cuisine has more references to Ducasse’s obsession with quality than, for instance, to the techno-emotional lesson, so to speak, given by Ferran Adrià. See it, eat it: this was Alain’s crucial lesson».
We make it. Time for lunch: «I go out to present the dish to the guests, and I present it like this: "Here’s The dream of a French chef who wants to make pasta like an Italian". Everyone freezes. The silence is deafening. Then Ducasse, while everyone is baffled, tastes the ravioli, then gets up and claps his hands, followed by everyone else». The same happens in the auditorium of Identità Milano 2019, for the gran finale of an unforgettable moment.
Translated into English by Slawka G. Scarso
by
journalist born in 1974, for many years he has covered politics, mostly, and food in his free time. Today he does exactly the opposite and this makes him very happy. As soon as he can, he dives into travels and good food. Identità Golose's editor in chief