Identità 2014: a Tasty Intelligence

As of today, Monday 22nd July, the first act of Identità Milano 2014 is online here on Identità Golose’s website. It will be celebrated from Sunday 9th February to Tuesday 11th at the Congress Centre in Via Gattamelata, the same location since the winter of 2009, and it will be focused on the theme of "A tasty intelligence", a concept I had in my mind after a recent trip to Hong Kong, on the occasion of an event. We were dining at Bo Innovation with Massimo Bottura and Claudio Ceroni when suddenly, speaking about Alvin Leung’s dishes and Massimo’s the chef from Modena said something profound that we too often forget: "I would like to be considered an intelligent chef".

Of course, one can have a brilliant intuition, guess a masterpiece by chance, so to speak, or impose something because he doesn’t find much resistance, he can be astute and know how to avoid all obstacles, he can weave the right plots in order to navigate well all the time, he can have talent in the kitchen but it is intelligence (perhaps mixed with a pinch of folly) that in the long run awards the best - because they manage, more than others, to have a clear vision at all times (and in all professions).

And there’s no doubt that the contemporary chef, the greatest part of the professionals working with pots and pans, not only in some rare excellent cases, know how to use their head as never before. They are miles and miles away from those who used to burn a pan and if someone today is considered to be such – some rare case – it’s only because of his sloppiness or arrogance, because he lacks in quality rather than in the fundamentals on which new balances, new dishes need to be based. There were always be those who will make do without making any effort, those who invent randomly, convinced that acting weird means being creative.

Today chefs and cooks are asked to take care of hundreds of different details and knowing how to nourish their guest is only the final act – which should no longer be seen as a rich full dish and then straight to the mouth and the stomach, paying no attention to lightness and digestibility, and ethics. What they’re asked of, more than before, is taste and style, while during the Zero decade special effects seemed to be all that mattered, given, however a comprehensive knowledge of raw materials, of the food diet and of the history of cuisine. No one, for instance, would give up on traditions, seen as roots, as the starting point towards the future, and not the finish line in a blind walk backwards.
There’s more: a tasty intelligence also means knowing how to make dishes lighter, without any punishment for those who enjoy indulging with food. No one desires any longer to deprive people of a full pleasure, but this joy should not interfere with the efficiency of our body. For a while we’ve been repeating that we don’t have the wearing and heavy jobs people used to have until the Sixties and Seventies and that for this reason it is necessary to eat less. This is very true, but an intelligent chef knows how to give the usual satisfaction and fullness with less calories. You take away what’s superfluous, but you leave flavours, textures and memories untouched. And the vegetarian and vegan worlds are no longer something foreign to high cuisine, which is another sign of intelligence.

The next edition will be number 10. Some may consider it a finish line. Not us. We look beyond, as 2015 will also be the year of the World Fair in Milan. Finish lines are a synonym of conclusion, and we are not participating in a competition. We, at Identità, observe and are passionate about the restaurant scene, we divulge what we consider the best, and try to make people discover those who we believe are worthy, we take into consideration any changes, and encourage those who have new and concrete ideas, those who risk in these hard economic times in Italy.

Identità 2014 will have an egg as its symbol, namely Pino Cuttaia’s Squid egg, the latest version of a lengthy work by the Sicilian chef focusing on a popular mollusc that has been ennobled by an extraordinary game that reminds us of the most classic egg, that of a hen. Going back in time, the first signature-dish was signed by Carlo Cracco with his Dried vegetables. It was 2007, edition number 3. Pasta and helium by Alfonso Caputo followed in 2008, and then the Marine choreographies of traditional recipes by Moreno Cedroni in 2009, Massimo Bottura’s Non-boiled boiled meats in 2010, Davide Scabin’s Spaghetti Pizza Margherita in 2011, Paolo Lopriore’s Bread, salted butter and raspberry in 2012 and finally, in the ninth edition, Massimiliano e Raffaele Alajmo’s Pier-Angelini - in fact Fulvio Pierangelini will be one of the protagonists in Milan on Sunday 9th February