Identità Sardinia

Here is today’s and tomorrow’s Sardinia, that of capable masters and their pupils. Of chefs clinging (or returned) to the native island and others who have chosen to open a restaurant or gain experience on the “continent”. We will find them all under the same roof, that of the ninth edition of Identità Milano, on Tuesday 12th February in Blue Hall 2, for a series of lectures all worth attending.

Identità Sardinia could not be opened by any other than Sergio Mei (at 10.20 am), 60 years old and almost twenty years as Executive chef at the Four Seasons hotel, in Milan’s high-fashion district, a city that attracted him since he was a kid. To understand his value, it would be sufficient to mention a sentence that Corriere della Sera’s reporter Alex Guzzi attributed to Aimo Moroni on the day of the presentation of “La cucina italiana all'italiana, alla maniera di Sergio Mei” (Italian cuisine, Italian style, in the manner of Sergio Mei, published by Reed Gourmet), which is in fact a very useful reference to understand a style which at the same time radiates soundness and Mediterranean essence: «Had Sergio looked for recipes with the effect», said Aimo, «he would be on the front pages. But he prefers dishes in which you can’t fake or cheat». A concreteness which already generates expectations.

Moreover, his lessons were attended (and still are) by many, though not Stefano Deidda (at 11 am) from Dal Corsaro in Cagliari. Thirty-one years old, for a long time in charge of the family restaurant (and recently of the spin-off called Fork, offering “lots of creativity and taste but low on fat and sugar”), he is a lecturer at the Alma International School of Cuisine in Colorno. Identità’s readers already know everything about Roberto Petza, third speaker of the day (his lesson at 12): of the visionary project of S’Apposentu in Siddi, in the heart of Marmilla (recently awarded with one star); the Accademia di cucina (Cuisine Academy) and his love for the pasta produced on his island, of which he will speak himself on this day.

The morning will end with Elio Sironi at 12.50. He’s another giant in Sardinian cuisine, with a strong long-standing experience at the Bulgari in Milan, which he ended in order to return to the island, at the Madai in Porto Cervo-Arzachena. The fans of Identità Golose can remember well the noise made by his “passive cooking” of pasta, during Identità Milano 2010, a concept with which we opened the series of Identità di Pasta newsletters.

Sardinia, however, also means new ranks, young men who draw nails and stoves to push the crisis away: at 1.40 pm Mario Tirotto and Manuele Senis, both pupils of Petza, will respectively explain what it means to open a bistro in Cagliari (the Lisboa, also the den of the chef from San Gavino, during his transition from the S’Apposentu in Cagliari to the one in Siddi) or the kitchen of a creative fish-farm resort, created in the beautiful Laguna di Nora near Pula (Cagliari).

The last speech of the day (at 2.30 pm) will be held by two more already brilliant promises: Oliver Piras from La Corte del Lampone in Cortina (but with important experiences with the Cerea’s and Robuchon, and internships at Noma and Celler) and Roberto Serra from Su Carduleu in Abbasanta (Oristano), another of Petza’s pupils (but also of Vissani and Bruno Barbieri) who tries to bring out products and producers from the Campidano area, composing original but traditional alchemies.