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August /September 2024 XIII MAGAZINE a damn about a chef making a good dish. I care that there is a concept behind a dish. AS WITH KLUGMAN’S RAVIOLI ALLE ERBE AMARE E RAPA BIANCA (RAVIOLI WITH BITTER HERBS AND WHITE TURNIP): DISCOVERING UNIQUENESS EVEN WHEN THERE IS NO BEAUTY, FOR ME WHO ESCHEWS TURNIP. It is like Picasso, or Kandinsky, and a painter who paints a landscape with dedication. Today you talk about Picasso and Kandinsky because they had an idea that ennobled the gesture. I once saw Picasso drawing a face in a film. It was mind-blowing shit. But it was Picasso. Behind it was an idea, that of a painter who revolutionised art. TWENTY YEARS FROM NOW THEY WILL ALL BE DOING VEGETABLE COOKING. WHAT ABOUT YOUR TOUCH OF PICASSO, DEAR GUIDARA? Let’s hope they at least remember the pioneer. UNFORTUNATELY, ONE IS REMEMBERED POST-MORTEM, RARELY IN LIFE. Unfortunately. However I seek uniqueness, I seek immortality. BUT DON’T WE ALL WISH TO BE IMMORTAL JUST BECAUSE WE WERE BORN MORTAL? Each of us can enjoy immortality; each of us can transmit a great energy, an aura that makes us immortal. However, we all desire it differently. IF YOU BUILT MONUMENTS, A COLISEUM, A TRIUMPHAL ARCH, A SKYSCRAPER, YOU WOULD BE MORE EASILY REMEMBERED THAN IF YOU BUILT A CARDONCELLO AT VULCANO DEAR GUIDARA ... If I started out as Alexander the Great and went all the way to the Indies, it would be easier to be remembered. Even if my cardoncello is unforgettable. SO, WHAT SHOULD I EXPECT FOR DINNER TONIGHT, GUIDARA? To completely change your mind about the world of vegetables. BUT I LOVE VEGETABLES LIKE ALL PLANTS. FROM HERE TO ACTUALLY EATING THEM GOES A LONG WAY. SO MY EXPECTATION IS: WILL I LOVE VEGETABLES OR WILL I LOVE THE CHEF’S COOKING? I would say both because one does not exist without the other. They live in symbiosis. At my place you eat the chef. SO AT THIS POINT YOU DENY YOUR VEGETABLE CUISINE [WE BOTH LAUGH OUT LOUD]. No no no you eat the chef as a thought. I think few of us really do art-house cooking. After all, even art-house films are rare. Apart from a few who assemble the ingredients well and eat excellent dishes, there are those, very few in fact, who express a concept through cooking. That is why I have made a manifesto. I therefore believe that you really eat the chef in my kitchen. Here you eat a philosophy. [EATER OF IDEAS, DEVOURER OF IDEAS: I REALLY LIKE THIS PART BUT I DON’T TELL GUIDARA SO AS NOT TO PROVOKE AN EXCESS OF PRIDE IN HIM] IF I HAVE TO EAT GOOD FOOD, HOWEVER, I’LL LOOK FOR A 70 EURO TRATTORIA, WHICH IS A SINCERE GOAL. How many 3-star Michelin restaurants make good food? APART FROM THOSE IN WHICH I HAVE EATEN FOR ME THE SANTINIS BY FAR. STARTING WITH HOME COOKING DISHES THAT HAVE BEEN ELEVATED TO PERFECTION. I HAVE BEEN TO OTHER STARRED RESTAURANTS AND IT WAS WONDERFUL FOR THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE DISHES, THE COLOURS, THE CERAMICS THAT DECORATE THE SERVICE AND THE TABLE. BOTH THE CHEFS AND THE BRIGADE WERE NICE. BUT EXCEPT FOR A SPAGHETTI WITH SEVEN TOMATOES AND A ‘LAST KISS’ I DON’T REMEMBER A DISH. SO IT WAS AN AMAZING EXPERIENCE YES BUT NOT A MEMORABLE ONE. Then what are we talking about? You are eating good food but if there is no immortality and uniqueness what is the point. At least for me. __________________________________ Tenerumi doesn’t need combinations of ingredients. We work in purity. Aubergine with aubergine, tomato with tomato, radicchio with radicchio. They are all single-vegetable dishes. Discipline, performance. I am naked when I cook. __________________________________ AT PAGE 46 ON THE ROAD The Aosta Valley and its gastronomic excellences FROM THE PICTURESQUE VILLAGES OF MOLISE WE HEAD NORTH-WEST TO DISCOVER THE AOSTA VALLEY, ITALY’S SMALLEST REGION by Alessandro Vergallo The Aosta Valley is home to some of the most fascinating Italian castles and the four highest mountain peaks in Italy: Mont Blanc, Cervino (the Italian name for the Matterhorn), Monte Rosa and Gran Paradiso, altitudes that profoundly influence the region’s economy. A frontier land with a special status, this region borders France and Switzerland, nations that have always enriched the culture, customs and traditions of the people of Valle d’Aosta, where both Italian and French, the co-official language, are spoken. Lo chef Giovanni Porretto