The morning poker

There’s big snow outside the MiCo congress centre in via Gattamelata, but the true big-ones are inside and warm your heart, with clapping hands in place of snowflakes: the auditorium hall’s morning programme at Identità Milano includes two native Italian giants, namely Carlo Cracco (with his trusted and inseparable Matteo Baronetto) and Massimo Bottura, framing the US duet formed by Daniel Humm and David Kinch. Let the show begin.

A sharp start, a sharp theme, a sharp joke: «You’re applauding Cracco only after he’s became popular thanks to Masterchef», is the uppercut by Paolo Marchi, in great shape. Sharp theme? Indeed, because it is on this very subject that the lesson by the chef from Vicenza - now at home in Via Hugo, a stone’s throw from Milan’s Duomo – is focused. The sharpness, the acidity, by the way, it’s not only in the dish, because the rest of the lecture is a constant correspondence of affectionate senses with a gloating Marchi.

Like this: «I started Identità Golose, nine years ago, also thanks to Cracco». He doesn’t make him beg and the latter replies: «I believe it is important to conduct a work like this. Among many congresses, this is one of the few that builds a journey allowing us to be stronger where we are already considered but always kept to a corner». He escapes of this corner and confesses an action against his nature: «Neither I, nor Matteo like acids, we scarcely use them. To us they are boot-lickers, often used to mask some defect. This time, instead...». This time he dishes out Acidi, a new tasting of sole acidity: 16 elements that come before the main course, a little like the old lemon sorbet. «It’s nice to mix it all and discover it is suave», Baronetto sums up.

“I have to change to stay the same”: Zurich born Daniel Humm quotes Willem de Koonig to illustrate the evolution of his Eleven Madison Park overlooking Central Park, in the chic and cosmopolitan heart of the Big Apple: going from a brasserie with no expectation to a cult restaurant with New Yorkers queuing outside, always following one watchword: «Go against the rules». For instance, by revolutionising the menu, «designing it around the client, as if it was a tailor-made dress», but then there are the fireworks, it’s an explosive format. The concept is this: to discover the NY tradition, unearthing the leitmotiv formed by the many producers of good things that gravitate around the city, in the incredible mosaic of metropolitan cultures. Like the farmer who cultivates 35 types of carrots: he’s the inspiration for a tribute to steak tartare that has all of tartare (carrot vinaigrette, Long Island sea salt, quail eggs, chives, horseradish, apple mustard, pickled mustard seeds… added to the above mentioned carrots, minced live on stage), except the meat, «but the texture and taste are similar».

From the East to the West coast, the environmental ratio increases. David Kinch is an ecologist chef, he comes from Manresa, near Palo Alto, he drives on a panoramic road overlooking the ocean’s wave but he’s not a great surfer: he moves more deftly between stoves and public relations: «Come to visit me at Los Gatos, Identità’s friends are also my friends». He explains that Californians are happy to embrace innovation, from Alice Waters onward. His innovation is an evolution and a commitment. The evolution: moving from a French-hinted style to one of his own (Andrea Petrini, on the stage, agrees), with lots of vegetables and fruits. For instance, a cocktail of crustaceans with a water ice obtained with the juice of green tomatoes and lemon, aromatised with seaweeds from the Pacific Ocean and then marinated; it gives acidity over a mix of top quality crustaceans over a bed of wild watercress pesto and muesli. And how about the commitment? «We need an alternative use of natural resources, we need to change things, you can’t use so much energy to nourish 40 people»: impossible not to applaud (the audience agrees with conviction).

Since we’re already on philosophical grounds, it’s time for superstar Massimo Bottura. He confesses straightaway: «My stomach is fluttering», but it’s not a new entomofagus Redzepi-style dish, he’s simply «still excited, on this stage». And then, with his accent from Modena, he starts off with a: «Ragazzi!» that mimics Bersani as imitated by comedian artist Crozza, and it seems we’re living a new season – in the kitchen, not only in politics. The audience smiles but his words soon become beautiful and important, a sensational lecture that charms the overcrowded auditorium. «What’s behind a dish?», or better, what should there be? We jump to the conclusion, you need six concepts: respect, identity, responsibility, freedom, wisdom and culture, some «essential tools for Italian cuisine», because the rebirth of the country starts from the stoves too. Break-transform-recreate: «we have to put the pieces of the Peninsula back together», we have to fall back in love. Perhaps with food, with a menu called Vieni in Italia con me (Come to Italy with me, a tribute to a book by Umberto Notari) and starting from raw materials, «from Gabrio Bini’s capers to Corrado Assenza’s confit bergamot».

Dishes perhaps become a moment rich of identity (like in the Onion and potato cappuccino with a croissant made with ciccioli flour) or one with an ethical value: «The dish as a social gesture», is the formula-concept behind Viaggio da Modena a Mirandola – Journey from Modena to Mirandola, the (un)lucky territory – proposed in honour of the victims of the earthquake: cotechino cooked in Lambrusco vapours, sbrisolona with less sugar and more salt, Lambrusco zabaglione. The table is paired with art, culture, history and economy, after all «as Italians, we always have an extra lemon, an extra provision of tomatoes». He talks of a country that re-starts «thanks to a poetic gesture», without losing nature and identity. Ovation. Dining has never been a more aware action...