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April/May 202 2 XIII MAGAZINE to the production and management of food delivery. It is sometimes used by the manager to create a second, virtual brand. Ghost kitchen. This is a laboratory-kitchen in which a single manager develops one or more brands exclusively dedicated to delivery. This is the case of the initiative promoted by Alida Gotta. Cloud kitchen. In this case, the model is based on the co-working scheme: several restaurateurs, each running their own business, share a kitchen and many of the operating costs. Cigierre’s initiative as well as Kuiri’s follow this idea. Virtual kitchen. Provides for the production and delivery of food produced under franchise or licensing of another brand __________________________________ AT PAGE 44-52 Veneto. Land of the Doges, an Italian excellence A JOURNEY FROM THE MOUNTAINS TO THE SEA AMONG RICE, RADIC- CHIO AND SALT COD TO EXPLORE AN INIMITABLE REGION THAT THE WHOLE WORLD ENVIES. by Alessandro Vergallo Our culinary tour continues. From Puglia, we travelled across the boot to Veneto, a region with mountains, hills, plains, lakes and the sea. Each area has a different climate, just as the agri-food products that each area produces are different. A land with a glorious history which, thanks to Venice, a gateway to the world, has preserved its culture, traditions and cuisine for centuries. From the discovery of America to the present day, rice, polenta, beans and salt cod are the mainstay of food in this part of Italy. As in all Italian regions, the sequence of products is dictated by the season. And here the ingredients that best mark this seasonality are mushrooms and herbs. The mycetes that grow in spring are varied, but the most sought-after are the kings’ and popes’ mushrooms, so called by the locals because they are rare, little known and very delicate compared to the autumn ones, which are tastier and more earthy. Also found in spring are the mortelle, also known as morels. These particular fungi lie somewhere between a mushroom and a truffle. They are never eaten as a whole because they have a strong flavour that is not very palatable. “There are two varieties, the conica and the rotunda, ” says Enrica Miron, chef at the restaurant in Conegliano Veneto that bears her name, “both are delicious, although the conica is more prized than the other”. Enrica, who learned the tradition of Treviso cuisine from her father Roberto and mother Mary, continues: “I use them above all to make risottos and meat sauces, but sometimes I also like to combine them with certain cheeses”. Other varieties of mushrooms that grow inland in spring in Veneto are the cardoncelli , the mancini that grow in families, the poplar mushroom that tastes like poplar and has a dry stalk, so called because its stem is thin and only the cap is edible. As for wild herbs, there are so many that a large book would not be enough to describe them all: s-cioppets (Silene vulgaris, or bladder campion) are undoubtedly among those that best characterise the Veneto, especially the Treviso area, they are also called carletti and grow both by the sea and in the mountains; bruscandoli, which are the shoots of wild hops that resemble asparagus; equally delicious are the shoots of butcher’s broom, better known locally as rust , a bitterish wild herb that is harvested from March to April. “ Rusts are very crunchy and so bitter,” says Chef Miron, “that the best way to prepare them is to cook them for a few minutes in vinegar and sugar, then leave them to dry for one or two days and finally store them in oil. They are also delicious when paired with sweet, salty or mineral foods; with egg, for example, it gives a hint of liquorice”. Other local wild herbs include the hard- Enrica Miron