Motionless Liguria

 

The dull weather which in the last few days has raged over Liguria is a good metaphor of the conditions in which the regional restaurant scene is to be found. While on the Levante (Eastern) coast there is only one Michelin star and few other interesting establishments, the Ponente (Western) coast certainly can’t boast an extraordinary offer in the gastronomic scene.

 

Is it the recession’s fault? Surely, only a few months ago, according to Rete Impresa, Imperia came last in the Italian list of provinces with best quality of business survival. Nearby France, thanks to a protectionist economic policy manages to create a more attractive offer, inevitably eroding a portion of the clientele which could be vital for our region.

To be honest, however, this is only the latest act in a play that, for years now, hasn’t had a rerun. The regional restaurant scene didn’t benefit from years of simplicity and lightness, of using raw materials that needed little manipulation: for a long time, being a good chef meant not ruining what nature offered as people had developed a certain dislike for an abundant, rich of cream, fats and lengthy cooking cuisine.

Of course, there’s nothing wrong with this: steamed scampi on white Pigna beans with a drop of extra virgin olive oil have certainly more appeal than a strawberry risotto, especially if you’re by the sea. The real problem is that, over time, restaurants have settled, doing little more, and much less. In many cases, the quality of raw materials has decreased. In parallel, there’s been little experimenting in the kitchen and less and less investment in professional staff. This shortcoming affected the dining room too.

To make a long story short, not counting some rare exceptions, the offer in Liguria has become flat, reaching a medium-low level, while costs for clients are very high. In partial defence of the disproportionate bills, it is always necessary to bear in mind that raw materials in Liguria cost quite a lot: farming the land in an area embedded between mountain rocks and sea waves is not an easy task, so is fishing from waters that have become poor of catch due to the exploitation perpetrated for decades. But the question of prices that are decisively higher than the Italian average is often an alibi behind which the sliest people hide themselves, perhaps pretending that the products they use are fresh, and not frozen or farmed.

The great names of the restaurant scene on the Ponente coast still haven’t found their successors: while in the Nineties there were over ten starred restaurants in the province of Imperia, today there are less than five. And, what’s worse, almost none of these have tried to renew themselves and find new forms of restaurant-making. There’s no curiosity, no eagerness to study and grow professionally, to invest money in qualified training, not to count the absence of public funds.

Of course, now even clients are missing, and money, and intention, and good humour too. But Liguria, still one of the most beautiful regions in Italy, at the moment isn’t even capable of welcoming adequately demanding and prepared clients. This said, there are some exceptions, but they’re still too few.