The 19th edition of RistorExpo was born from the need to develop, through a serious regional marketing efforts, the exchange of ideas and professional growth in the wine and food sector by meeting with about the 200 present companies, seminars, workshops, internships, etc. . At the official opening of this year, presented by Federico Quaranta (Rai Radio 2, La Prova del Cuoco, Decanter), were present Giovanni Ciceri, creator and curator of the project, James Mojoli, Design Thinking wine and food journalist, Marco Stabile , President of Jeunes Restaurateurs d’Europe, Davide Paolini Journalist of the Sole 24 Ore, and the chef David Scabin.
At the debate it has been trying to give an answer to why the choice of the title “culinary anarchy”: today, after years of Nouvelle Cuisine, naturalization, molecular cuisine, …. the emptiness; no one knows how to create a line, there are no utopias to follow, everyone cooks, but few really know how to do it! During these days, however, we realized that the ideas are there and that many chefs have a role in the kitchen and follow their own style.
Look Scabin, a genius, one that has really created a style, an art, a gastronomic thought that many have followed for years and who still follow. The most unconventional chef that I know, the one who has always gone against everything and everyone, rough – looking, but with a gentle heart and a great feeling that moved the audience when he told us, on the second day, during his (Lectio Magistralis) keynote address , of the ox “Orazio” the star of his own creation “dynamic of beef and chicken”. His dishes fascinate and is not just a color issue, but it is a game of intense sensitivity and sensorial crossings, but there is also a great work of knowledge. Scabin showed us through a series of slides, his long journey: a roundup of events that have changed the way of cooking, (the steak tartare B.C, the check salad, the space food, etc.), and listening to him there we realize that it is a very curious man and his curiosity led him to anticipate the course of the history of cooking. The greatest attention was paid to the number of gold that, unconsciously, drawn from the artists past and contemporary chefs like Bottura, the great Gualtiero Marchesi, and others. But we go back to Sunday, which saw as protagonist of the afternoon Fabrizio Ferrari, star chef of the restaurant “Al Porticciolo 84” of Lecco, who has demonstrated great technical skill and a kitchen made of different textures on the plate and from the combination of different ingredients that will blend together harmoniously.
Then it was the turn of the “multifaceted” Giancarlo Morelli and his cuisine made of real, sincere things and its link to the territory, and the presented dish, Carnaroli rice with creamed leeks, goat cheese and pollen chestnut honey, delighted us! On the third day it was the turn of the chef “rock gardener” Paul Cunningham. English origins, but of Danish adoption (he married a beautiful Danish girl), the chef whisked through a series of slides showing the Danish countryside, in a pleasant space where what really matters are the roots, family, and the good things that the land offers. He likes to cultivate the products which he then uses in his kitchen to “Henne Kirkeby Kro”, and the game that prepares comes from an island his boss owns. His dishes will remind you of the scent of roots, the earth, and that love for the genuineness and “more the food is simple more it approaches perfection: a good butter, good pasta and a good salt, nothing else”, he says; his motto is “believe in yourself and not in your success!”. In the afternoon it was the time for Matteo Monti, a young promise in the firmament of Italian cuisine. He came out of the kitchen Lopriore, first, and Scabin, after, Monti is the perfect incarnation of the artist somewhat genius and a bit crazy, that when he gets to work he turns into a true professional who knows how to surprise and delight you with his dishes. The new chef is about a year at the lead of the restaurant Rebelot of Milan following a philosophy of freedom in accordance with the topics this year RistorExpo (culinary anarchy): you can match a wine to a dish, or why not, even a drink!
Fourth and final day was not to be less than the others, I would say that ended in an exciting and unique with the presence of Pino Cuttaia, the starred chef of the restaurant La Madia of Licata. The Sicilian chef has not only created unique dishes, but he explained the precise execution of the dishes: the big and do not fear rivals that will copy! The chef spoke of perfume, gestures and flavors that distinguish our childhood and that we will always find always in the kitchen, presenting three dishes that are part of his memories of his childhood: the pizzaiola (a tomato and oregano sauce) of the mother, of course, revisited with a pizza frame, a cream of potato, tomato powder, oregano, olive oil, and smoked cod with pine cone; a dismantled Caprese (fresh tomatoes and mozzarella cheese), and, finally, an octopus on rock (a crunchy foam made of octopus) with dried lentils. But then I ask myself, – if the kitchen is one of our childhood, revisited and then “super modified”, we return to the Cunningham’s concept of the cuisine linked to the family? – I would say that the heart of cooking there are always our roots, the love for family and love for our land.
