QUALITALY_144

MAGAZINE Februar y/March 2025 which are immaterial boundaries, mirrors of the soul that reflect the shapes of Raschi's senti- mental and emotional landscape, opening up to the truths of a man who is a chef by nature and who grew up in a network of family ties that make him a connoisseur of home cooking that cannot be separated from blood relations, according to a prompt and total adherence to family codes that educate and shape one to live the present as the result of a more or less distant past and as the premise of a future that does not question his own identity. Being Augusta's grandson, son of Tiziana and brother of Gianluca, define Raschi as a man and a chef in a place that is basically explained by the simplicity of a beach where the parasols will soon be removed - it's mid-September - leaving that eclectic and joyful circus-like dimension where the amusement is light and dreamy, giving way to the misty melancholy of the autumnal sea with its romantic disillusion. ‘It's impossible to shut out the sand, the sea and the sky without losing a part of oneself that defines us when you're born in Rimini’, a city that for Raschi, like Fellini, is a dimension of memory where everything is imagined. It grows in his heart and veins like a lifeblood that gives life with ‘a bonhomie, cordiality, and a pat on the back that implies trust and friend- ship, but can also be a confused, fearful, ten- der muddle with this great expanse, this empty open sea that all the people of Rimini have to deal with in life’. The sea is reflected in Raschi's dishes, the Adriatic, so dear to him, which arrives in long waves that don't disturb the shore, bringing a rich catch of fish, poor but nutritious, becau- se life, anchovies, sardines, soles, mackerel, gurnard, dogfish and seabream have lived it without too much nobility and have embraced it with great gusto. There is territory, which is origin; there is matter that is substance; there are ideas suspended between deduction and intuition, reason and imagination, emotion and reflection of which sand, sea and sky are the deposits from which to draw in the ontological and emotional landscape of Raschi. These are reference points that give awareness and reco- gnition to the uncompromising seafood cuisine of this chef from Romagna. 1946 IS AN IMPORTANT DATE... In 1946, our restaurant was opened in a wooden hut on the beach, a small kiosk that served 'just four things' to the tourists of the time: grilled fish, soft drinks, beers, soda. In the post-war period, reconstruction also meant catering. There was little left in the countryside and my grandfather Guido had evacuated to the city with my grandmother Augusta and my mother Tiziana. They found themselves in Miramare and invented a job. They had no specific trai- ROMAGNA, LED BY MASSIMO BOTTURA , MEET YOUNG INTERNATIONAL CHEFS. IN 2018 HE CREATED THE MENU FOR RADICI RESTAURANT IN HONOLULU, A PROJECT THAT SHOWCASES ADRIATIC FISH CUISINE IN THE LUXURY VELOCITY COURT OF THE HAWAIIAN CAPITAL DEDICATED TO THE EXCELLENCE OF MADE IN ITALY. IN 2020 HE OPENED ‘AUGUSTA - CUCINA E CICCHETTO’ IN THE TRIANGLE FORMED BY THE GALLI THEATRE, THE TIBERIUS BRIDGE AND CASTEL SISMONDO. SOUL FOOD THAT IS THE CENTREPIECE OF THE FAMILY HEARTH AND BRINGS TRADITIONAL SEAFOOD AND MEAT RECIPES TO THE TABLE. I MEET RASCHI ON A WARM SEPTEMBER EVENING. THE LIGHTS OF THE WORLD CONGRESS OF FOOD SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY HAVE JUST BEEN SWITCHED OFF. I'M SITTING AT A TABLE OVERLOOKING THE BEACH. GIORGIA, A RESEARCH COLLEAGUE FROM CATTOLICA, ACCOMPANIES ME WITH HER DELICATE GAZE REMINISCENT OF THE VOICE OF THE MOON by Gianluca Donadini We are in Miramare, Lungomare Spadazzi. Gianpaolo is a reserved and carefree man, a ‘progressive conservative’. He has a beautiful narrative voice, deep and hoarse, which he uses to narrate with skill, irony and savoir faire, with that captivating Romagna accent that puts you in a good mood. His face immediately becomes expressive when he accompanies his words with a mimicry marked by the sea, the wind, the sand, so deep and accentuated are these elements that outline particular identifying and affiliating features in the physiognomy of Rimini. Sitting at a table in ‘Guido 1946’, one under- stands a lot about the metaphysics of the Rimini chef. One only has to look beyond the windows, BOY. FROM THEN ON, HE SLOWLY FELL IN LOVE WITH HOME COOKING, WHICH GAVE HIM A SENSE OF PURPOSE AND OPENED UP NEW EMOTIONAL PERSPECTIVES THAT LED HIM TO PRACTISE A CLEAR-HEADED CREATIVITY THAT WAS SUFFICIENTLY DREAMLIKE TO ALLOW HIM TO PASS FROM THE DREAM TO THE REAL WORLD WITHOUT FEELING LOST. SINCE 2001, THE KITCHEN OF ‘GUIDO 1946’ HAS BEEN ALL HIS, WHILE THE CELLAR IS IN THE HANDS OF HIS BROTHER GIANLUCA. DURING THOSE YEARS, THEY EXPERIMENTED A LOT. THEN THE DUALITY OF THE RIMINI PRAGMATISM AND ITS DREAM LED TO A MORE DOWN-TO-EARTH CUISINE, LESS EGOCENTRIC AND SELF-REFERENTIAL. THIS MATURING PROCESS WAS REWARDED WITH A MICHELIN STAR IN 2007 ‘FOR THE ABILITY TO CELEBRATE ADRIATIC FISHING CUISINE WITH DISHES THAT ARE SIMPLE TO READ ON THE MENU BUT CAPABLE OF REVEALING SUBTLE ELABORATIONS AND REFINED ELEGANCE’. SINCE THEN, GIANPAOLO HAS CONSOLIDATED HIS MENU AROUND UNCHANGING AND THEREFORE ETERNAL FISH DISHES THAT EVOKE A LANDSCAPE TYPICAL OF RIMINI, MADE UP OF SAND, SEA AND SKY, AND THE FAMILY BACKGROUND FROM WHICH HE DRAWS ALL HIS INSPIRATION. IN 2017 HE ENTERED FICO EATALY WORLD WITH ‘IL MARE DI GUIDO’. HE WAS THEN AN ADVISORY CHEF ON THE 9TH SERIES OF MASTERCHEF, AND AGAIN ON TELEVISION PROMOTING EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL ON BEHALF OF THE MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE. HE IS ONE OF THE GLOBETROTTERS OF ‘AL MENI’, THE COLOURFUL TASTE CIRCUS IN PIAZZA FELLINI IN RIMINI WHERE TWELVE GREAT CHEFS FROM EMILIA VII