When it all began, in January 2005, on the night between the first and second (and last) day of Identità I had a dream. I dreamt about the congress, its debut, its first 9 speakers (18 altogether), Pietro Leemann and a masterful risotto at Circolo della Stampa, the ovation welcoming Ferran Adrià on stage, the striking lesson by Corrado Assenza and much more. I remember I left home very early to make sure, directly on location, at Milan’s stock-exchange in Piazza Affari, inside Sala delle Grida which had been transformed into a congress centre, that Identità was real. Indeed it was and I sighed with relief seeing that everything was ready to welcome public, exhibitors and speakers.
Ten years and two weeks later, Claudio Ceroni and I interpret Identità Golose in many different ways, a guide and a website, a great event in New York and a second one in the States, in Chicago, but also in London and an Expo fast approaching which we will end with an important participation in Host, the hospitality fair in Rho, where we will develop Identità Future.
CROWDED ROOMS. The audience listens to the lectures beyond the glass of the Sale Blu halls
Yet today, the memory of the three days dedicated to
Identità Milano, which opened with
Leemann, is still strong. Over a decade, the Swiss chef that Milan adopted around thirty years ago has accentuated his spiritual side increasingly connecting his cuisine to his religious creed, including a Buddhist altar and a ceremony of water purification at the heart of the lesson. All this at 10 am on Sunday 10th February, in front of the overcrowded Auditorium hall participating in a profound yet difficult lecture, what with mantras, products that were put aside because distant from a vegan vision and slides with water crystals.
The “sold-out” auditorium hall confirms the chef from Canton Ticino is right, even though it is easy to be ironic online as a dish full of meatballs or a mixed salad is inevitably easier to understand. Yet what
Massimo Bottura said during his first lesson on Monday morning (the second was on Tuesday at
Identità di Pasta) applies: “Judge when you will have enough culture to judge”.
Otherwise, it’s best to keep quiet. This is a perfect example of respect towards those who work to offer the best possible product to their clients, risking personally.
Davide Scabin in the studio of Decanter-Radio Due
Even this year, edition number 11,
Identità confirms to be an extraordinary workshop for ideas, emotions, meetings, growth. Not only in the three conference rooms, but also in the expo area as demonstrated, for instance, by
Davide Scabin who during the three days prepared Amatriciana (with garlic, hurray, hurray) cooked without adding any oil in a pressure cooker at
Felicetti’s stand and then explained it on Tuesday at
Identità di Pasta. Beat that…
It’s hard for me to say what I liked the best, as I always jump from one place to the other and miss a lot. For sure,
Enrico Crippa is always generous in explaining his latest dishes and I’m also sure that I’m no longer one of the few to consider
Antonia Klugmann as a chef with an extraordinary mind, someone who thinks before cooking. And then there are
Daniela Cicioni’s colours, the universe of pizza, traced on Monday,
Enrico Panero’s tour of Italy, the kaleidoscope of spice food, with
Bryce Shuman’s (New York) and
Caterina Ceraudo’s (Calabria) views of ’Nduja, the bee-tripe by
Cristina Bowerman, an auditorium nailed down by
Guidara-
Humm, a winning duo uniting dining room and kitchen, the marvellous Monday performance with
Noi di Sala and actor
Marco Giallini, the twenty/thirty-year-olds growing well, following the steps of the big chefs, and the echo the congress centre in Via Gattamelata had on Saturday 7th February at Hangar Bicocca with Expo delle Idee, whose long wave will do the Italian restaurant scene good.
Enrico Crippa during his lesson at Identità Milano 2015 on Sunday 8th February
There were many varied things and my eyes already look at the future, with
Identità Golose 2016 in mid March and a horizon that starts to shape in my mind and is connected with the heritage that Milan’s World Fair will leave with Carta di Milano. The time will come when even us Italians will create a guide that will be credible, in the world, just like the
Michelin one, to which we have delegated the quality certification of our restaurants. Not that in Italy there are no publications that are just as good, expect we’re the only ones to read them. Of course, they’re only written in Italian. This is not the only reason, however: they speak about Italian establishments without crossing the national borders. We need to go around the world with our excellences and our chefs. Without any compromise or shortcut.
