QUALITALY_134

May/June 2023 XIII MAGAZINE stage. Which is often limited, to be fair, to ‘no flip-flops, short shorts, sweatpants or smelly clothes’. Things that are rarely seen in European high-end restaurants: sometimes the unwritten rule is worth more than the one written in stone, or on the booking app. Behind the demands on how to dress, however, lies something else, as Richard Thompson Ford, a professor at Stanford Law School, explained to the NYT. “Dress touches on many controversial issues: gender identity and roles, race, class, status. When we can’t talk openly about these issues, we delegate them to dress.” So much so that some local authorities, such as that in Baltimore, have intervened to condemn the dress code at restaurants. But the pandemic has brought with it not only a different way of dressing - more casual and comfortable, no high heels, and some people have no intention of going back - but it has also changed, for hygiene reasons initially, the way of dressing the table. Between the return of the runner and the desire to showcase vintage or unfinished wooden tables that go well with the new vegetarian (now the star of the table) and ‘sustainable’ menus, it is gaining more and more followers. Often we get to overthrow that tidy set- up of knife, fork, spoon and napkin each in its unchanging place in favour of the more practical paper napkin, sometimes made of disposable paper, that wraps the cutlery. Once the prerogative of fast food restaurants or more rustic eateries, it has now also appeared at the historic (since 1879) Gage & Tollner in Brooklyn. THE NEW LUXURY IS WARM AND SUSTAINABLE Behind all this is a new conception of luxury, which revolves around a set of values - real or perceived - of sustainability (social and environmental) and inclusion. In short, the premium experience must be environmentally friendly, authentic and personalised. And local culture and products that transmit the so-called genius loci also count , in preference to the status symbol ingredients of yesteryear, lobsters and caviar and foie gras and truffles, which are, moreover, increasingly unavailable. In short, it is necessary to think of a new language, shared between a dining room that will have to be lightened out of necessity (of economic sustainability as well as of staff recruitment) and a customer who has emerged from the pandemic with, at least partially, different needs. With a distinction, mundane perhaps but important: in the process, woe betide the loss of that truly unique capacity of Italian hospitality to welcome, mutatis mutandis but at all levels, the guest with a smile, empathy and the ability to put oneself at his or her service. __________________________________ BOX Like home, but out of doors The balance is now on the razor’s edge, or the tablecloth and napkin. Because if deciding to avoid formal equipment, also for reasons of energy saving and laundry, may be a correct choice, the photocopy effect must be avoided, i. that is, those places that are all the same and indifferent and leave very few memories and become confused with each other. And this is true both for the menu and for the furnishings and equipment. Fortunately, there are now various options even in the world of paper and cardboard that can make a personal and distinctive experience. Many companies now give the option of customising items to make them unique, or offer wide ranges of colours and materials, from reusable non-woven fabric to single-use compostable and therefore green. More sustainable, you can tell the customer, than the white tablecloth to be washed until spotless. __________________________________ BOX The advantages of single-use “The Covid emergency has encouraged the development of single-use as a guarantee of hygiene, but this trend has been further strengthened by rising energy costs,” says Magda Lucchesini, Sales Manager Italy at Industrie Celtex. “Single-use is practical and cost-effective: it does not require washing, ironing, rental or transport costs for delivery and collection. And in particular entrepreneurs under 40 are increasingly demanding sustainable products”. Many establishments choose the classic tissue napkin for daytime and Airlaid, which resembles fabric, for the evening. “In fact, disposable napkins make it possible to vary the table setting according to seasonality, fashionable colours, location and occasion. Among the Celtex offerings, the Madre Terra line with different tableware solutions is made of pure, unbleached cellulose in a wood and earth-like shade. The napkins, which are EU Ecolabel certified, are biodegradable. __________________________________ AT PAGE 46 ON THE ROAD Lucania, a land yet to be explored A TRADITIONALLY POOR REGION THAT HAS BEEN ABLE TO USE VERY SIMPLE INGREDIENTS FOR DISHES WITH DEFINED AND UNIQUE FLAVOURS TO BE DISCOVERED by Alessandro Vergallo Here we are with a new stop on our food and wine tour. We are in ancient Lucania, better known by the name Basilicata. Helping us learn more about the cuisine of this region is the young chef Giovanni Chiaromonte of the Pitty restaurant in Policoro. The people of Lucania, discreet, respectful and proud of their origins, still jealously preserve the history and traditions still alive in the daily life of their magnificent villages. Basilicata is located in the heart of southern Italy, and is ‘nestled’ between Campania, Puglia and Calabria: three regions with strong identities that have always influenced its culture, dialects and gastronomy. The culinary and linguistic similarities between the municipalities of Matera and their neighbours from Taranto and Bari are striking. 92% of Lucania’s territory is mountainous or hilly, only the remaining 8% is flat: a strip on the Ionian side, the Metaponto Plain, and another smaller one facing the Tyrrhenian, the Maratea Plain. In the former, an alluvial plain stretching between Puglia and Calabria and branching towards the interior (along the valleys of the Bradano,