For many years now the Identità Milano congress has been featuring a focus on "natural cuisine": it's hard to give a synthetic definition given its many facets, analysed in detail in the many editions of this section which is now a classic of the congress.
This is also because, as Paolo Marchi, creator and curator of Identità Milano explains, «this is not meant to be an Indian reserve, with the dynamics of a ghetto. ‘Natural’ is an adjective that fits every type of cuisine, and every type of food. We want the theme to find its place in the conscience of people, including the omnivores. We need to discuss every aspect, without dogmas and preconceptions». And this is how it's been, since ten years ago, when these topics were certainly less trendy, less popular.
In the sixteenth edition of Identità Milano – which will take place from the 25th to the 27th of September 2021 at MiCo in Milan, following the theme of Building a New Future: Work – the moment dedicated to Identità Naturali will be on the morning of Monday 27th September, in Sala Blu 1, and will have a very important and prestigious partner Mielizia: since 1979, it's the brand of the beekeepers at Conapi, Consorzio Nazionale Apicoltori, the most important co-op of beekeepers in Italy and one of the most important in the world.
This year's speakers have been asked to focus on just one ingredient, a raw material of great natural value, which can be used to create both some great dishes, and as inspiration for some thoughts and examples of how to enhance these fruits of nature in the best possible way.
We will start with honey, and with a very prestigious protagonist of the Italian art of pastry-making:
Gino Fabbri, internationally renowned maestro of pastry making, and emblem of Italian pastry-making, a life dedicated to dough, sugar and, of course, honey. His talk will open the works at
Identità Naturali and will be titled "Honey, much more than an ingredient". It will allow
Fabbri to explore its different uses and discuss the role of this extraordinary raw material in small and large baked products. Using the products of
Mielizia,
Fabbri will have fun enhancing three different honeys: Miele di Clementino BIO, Miele Millefiori BIO and Miele di Castagno BIO.
It will then be the turn of a different ingredient, equally prestigious, often considered one of the most precious of all: truffle. The presence of truffles at
Identità Naturali is in harmony and continuity with the
Tartufo tutto l'anno project which, in partnership with
Appennino Food Group, has each month one chef arrive at
Identità Golose Milano to present a menu entirely dedicated to the different varieties, and the different seasonality, of this ingredient. The very talented
Gianluca Gorini, from
DaGorini in San Piero in Bagno (Forlì-Cesena), will have the task of interpreting truffles with his dishes – and he'll do it again for the Hub of Identità (later, on the 5th of October,
book here). To give an idea, he was first given the "surprise of the year" award from the
Guida Identità Golose 2015 and then the "Best chef" award from the same
Guide, in 2019.
The works of the morning will finish with three chefs, who will share the stage to interpret an ingredient that is a true emblem of the Mediterranean area, its culture, history, and before that its cuisine. Oil (extra virgin olive oil, that is). In this case a great Sicilia producer,
Premiati Oleifici Barbera, will join us, their oil being the official oil of
Identità Milano 2021.
The chefs will be three, and they will be assigned three oils from three different varieties of the
Lorenzo range:
Numero 1, a monocultivar from Cerasuola made with organic olives from the P.D.O. Valli Trapanesi area;
Numero 3, from Biancolilla organic olives grown at over 700 metres of altitude high in the hills; Numero 5, monocultivar made with green Nocellara olives, cultivated high in the hills and carefully deboned.
But who are the three chefs who were given this important task? The first will be French
Philippe Léveillé, from Normandy, who has been based in Lombardy since 1987 and since 1994 is the chef at
Miramonti l'Altro in Concesio (Brescia): one of the chefs who has often used butter as his emblem, but is also an extraordinary connoisseur and interpreter of fine oil.
And then there will be
Francesco Bracali, chef at
Bracali in Maremma di Massa Marittima (Grosseto), who comes from another area in which extra virgin olive oil is an essential topic; and finally the 100% Sicilial
Pietro D'Agostino, chef at
La Capinera in Taormina (Catania), a real master in the selection of exceptional raw materials and in the enhancement of local ingredients.
HERE IS THE COMPLETE PROGRAMME OF IDENTITÀ MILANO 2021
TO REGISTER, CLICK HERE AND FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS
Translated into English by Slawka G. Scarso
