06-03-2016
Davide Scabin, in the photo with Paolo Marchi, opened the works in the auditorium hall on the first day of Identità Milano, twelfth year. Photo by Brambilla/Serrani, translation into English by Slawka G. Scarso
Passion, pride, fear. And the explosive strength of freedom. «This is not a political congress», Paolo Marchi immediately points out, opening the works at Identità Milano, twelfth edition. Yet cooking interacts with the world, it is (or: creates) culture and society, it lives in its time, with all its difficulties. «We’re proud to have chosen The Strength of Freedom as this year’s theme. We were a bit scared, after the success of Identità Expo», Claudio Ceroni, patron of the same MagentaBureau organising the event, said by way of introduction. The fear is overcome as the room fills up as usual, more than usual.
«I take the freedom not to cook», starts off the first speaker, Davide Scabin. We could perhaps accuse him of his lesson being very outside the box, but it was coherent. Cooking interacts with the world. While Identità chose a serious theme, the chef from RIvoli keeps the standard high by speaking not of mirepoix or vacuum cooking but of history and humanity. He starts from afar, from the Anthropocene, «the era when man first appeared». It’s almost a detail in the history of the planet, 3 minutes if Earth had lived 24 hours, «yet it’s been enough for us to destroy it. And more than anyone else’s, it’s my mother’s fault, that of the Post War generation».
The lesson by Isaac McHale
The freedom of presenting new restaurant formats. Isaac McHale tells us about his recipes made with Cornish fish or Scottish scallops (the “Japanese style” mackerel was excellent, its fat removed with vinegar and then paired with chrysanthemum – not the flower but the leaves and stalks). But what strikes is his choice, the first in the UK, where he works, to introduce the Alinea-format: you go to the restaurant like you go to the theatre, that is to say after buying the ticket in advance, «I seat 40-50 guests, if every night some ten of them don’t show up, it’s a problem». The solution is this sort of pre-sale, which has been used by Alinea in the US and has now been implemented by Heston Blumenthal at the The Fat Duck too: «He called me to thank me. “A beautiful idea, but I couldn’t open the way. Now you’ve paved it and have been criticised, I’ll follow”, he joked» but not that much.
Enrico Crippa
The lesson by Massimiliano Alajmo
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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