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August /September 2024 X MAGAZINE AT PAGE 34 CHEF’S FACES The (vegetable) Gospel according to Guidara DAVIDE GUIDARA, 30 YEARS OLD, FROM SAN SALVATORE TELESINO IN CAMPANIA. HE STUDIED AT THE HOTELIER INSTITUTE IN CASTELVENERE. HE HAS A BROAD EXPERIENCE THANKS TO HIS STINTS IN THE KITCHENS OF RAFFAELE D’ADDIO OF FORO DEI BARONI, NINO DI COSTANZO, ALFONSO IACCARINO, MICHEL BRAS BUT ABOVE ALL RENÈ REDZEPI OF NOMA IN COPENHAGEN. MAJOR ROLES AS EXECUTIVE CHEF AT THE EOLIAN IN MILAZZO AND AT SUM IN CATANIA SHAPED HIS COOKING PHILOSOPHY BEFORE ARRIVING AT I TENERUMI, RESTAURANT OF THE THERASIA RESORT SEA & SPA ON VULCANO. TWO MICHELIN STARS (ONE RED AND ONE GREEN), GUIDARA WAS BEST IN SICILY 2017, EARNING HIM THE NICKNAME ‘’THE BOY CHEF‘’. SINCE THEN, HIS GROWTH HAS BEEN EXPONENTIAL: MICHELIN’S CHEF OF THE YEAR 2023; 3 FORKS FOR GAMBERO ROSSO’S RISTORANTI D’ITALIA 2023 GUIDE; IDENTITÀ NATURALI 2023 AWARD, AMONG THE UNDER-30S SELECTED IN 2024 BY FORBES FOR THE ART AND CULTURE CATEGORY AND AMONG THE UNDER-40S IN THE WORLD OF CUISINE ACCORDING TO FORTUNE MAGAZINE. IN 2024, HE WON THE TITLE OF PASSION DESSERT FOR MICHELIN. HE IS A STAR ON GAMBERO ROSSO CHANNEL WITH THE EIGHT EPISODES OF LA MIA RIVOLUZIONE VEGETALE (MY VEGETABLE REVOLUTION), AN ON-THE- ROAD TRIP TO VULCANO IN SEARCH OF THE RIGHT INGREDIENTS. GUIDARA IS THE PROPHET OF THE NEW VEGETABLE CUISINE WHOSE PRINCIPLES HE LAYS DOWN IN A MANIFESTO - COOK MORE PLANTS - THAT IS THE GUIDING BELIEF FOR A NEW CUISINE THAT CAN EXPLORE THE UNCHARTED HORIZONS OF FOOD. AND WHAT SOURCE OF INSPIRATION IS MORE UNEXPLORED THAN VEGETABLES, FORGOTTEN BY CUISINE AND RELEGATED TO A ROLE AS A SIDE DISH DESPITE ITS VAST BUT UNEXPRESSED POTENTIAL. THE WRITINGS OF GUIDARA TELL OF ONIONS RIPENED IN MISO, TOMATOES PUREED IN LIME, LETTUCE FERMENTED IN GOAT’S BUTTERMILK. THESE ARE TEXTS THAT EXPAND THE CULINARY SCRIPT BY FERRYING THE VEGETABLE INTO FIELDS OF (PRE)POWERFUL AND SOVEREIGN TASTE, A CLEAR VOICE, PURE IN ITS ESSENCE, MORE THAN AN OPERATIC ‘C’ IN A CHEST VOICE. AND IF THE ‘C’ IS THE OPERA’S FIRST TENOR, THEN THE VEGETABLE IS THE UNDISPUTED LEAD CHARACTER, A UNIQUE YET MULTIFACETED PERFORMER ON THE STAGE CAPABLE OF PLAYING MULTIPLE ROLES, GAINING PROMINENCE FROM A CHARACTER ROLE TO WHICH TRADITION HAS RELEGATED IT DUE TO A SHORT- SIGHTED VISION THAT NEITHER HOME COOKING NOR GOURMET CUISINE HAVE MANAGED TO ESCAPE. A SOLO ROLE THAT WE ARE NOT USED TO BECAUSE THE VEGETABLE SOLILOQUY AT THE TABLE IS NOT PART OF OUR TRADITION THAT HAS RELEGATED THIS ‘PYTHAGOREAN OR HERBACEOUS FOOD’, ACCORDING TO APULIAN CHEF VINCENZO CORRADO’S DEFINITION, TO A GENRE CUISINE OR TO A HEALTHY, BORING AND DEPRIVED CUISINE, BECAUSE IT IS HYPOCALORIC OR SUSTAINABLE FOR THE PLANET. THE VEGETABLE IS AN ETHICAL CHOICE RATHER THAN ONE OF FULL FLAVOUR, FORCED INTO THE FORM OF A PATTY, HAMBURGER OR FRANKFURTER AT BEST TO IMITATE THE SUCCESS OF MEAT AND FISH. ALL YOU NEED IS METHOD, DISCIPLINE AND A STEADY HAND CAPABLE OF JUGGLING RIGOROUS MACERATION, FERMENTATION, OXIDATION AND DRYING TECHNIQUES TO RESTORE AS MUCH DIGNITY TO VEGETABLES AS TO ANIMAL PROTEIN. THIS IS GUIDARA’S RECIPE THAT PROCLAIMS ITS BELIEF THROUGH THE RECITAL OF A CUISINE THAT MUST BE ONE OF TRANSFORMATION, IN WHICH THE COOK BECOMES A FOOD TECHNOLOGIST WHO MANIPULATES AND ADAPTS THE MATRICES TO ENHANCE THEIR ESSENCE AND MAGNIFY THEIR STRUCTURE. BECAUSE THE VEGETABLE REQUIRES AN EDUCATED HAND TO EXPRESS A BROAD HORIZON OF TASTE THAT, WITHOUT ELABORATION, IMPLODES IN AN ALMOST AUTISTIC TIMIDITY. by Gianluca Donadini I meet Davide Guidara in Vulcano. We are at the chef’s table of I Tenerumi, the Michelin- starred restaurant of the Therasia Resort. It is a midday in June. Alicudi and Filicudi are on the Mediterranean horizon. The Faraglioni of Lipari pierce the sea, which today is a flat slab inviting one to walk. And to me, ‘who has the sea inside me’ and who finds Vulcano a treasured island for its ‘primevalness’ expressed by the tumult that the smouldering fire can give, Guidara appears like an evangelical prophet of a vegetable religion that does not ask for acts of faith but ‘virtue and knowledge’. WHY THIS INTEREST IN VEGETABLES? It stems from my idea to expand the culinary language to broaden the horizons of cooking through a revolutionary act that I address to the vegetable world, a little-explored area with unexpressed potential in culinary terms. It is not an ethical or personal food choice. I eat everything, I am omnivorous. I am neither vegetarian nor vegan. I DON’T THINK A CHEF CAN BE VEGAN. This is impossible. Like a painter who paints with three colours: an expressive self-castration. A professional chef must know every edible ingredient. A chef can then follow his own diet but not apply it in the kitchen.