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and raw vegetarian restaurant which
opened in Milano in 2015. Three
are the categories you can find at
Mantra: fruit, vegetables and dried
fruit. They get transformed by
chef Alberto Minio Palulello, who
studied at the Matthew Kennedy
Culinary Academy in Santa Monica,
the only school of its kind.
“First of all, food has to be good and
then healthy and well presented”.
So much so that “the majority of
our customers are omnivore and
come here either because they know
plant-based foods are healthy or
because they want to try something
new. They try our place just as any
other ethnic restaurant. Our food is
tasty and there are no animal-based
products, but nobody notices. We
also have many vegetarians, a few
vegans and very few raw vegetarians,
because this philosophy is not yet
very common in Italy. Opening a raw
restaurant has been a real challenge”.
How do you communicate your
uniqueness? “I wanted a restaurant
totally open to omnivores. If people
ask questions we give answers, but
we don’t try to impose our ideas on
anyody”.
Crepapelle Restaurant. When
street food turns vegan
Chocolate and cream desserts,
panzerottos, fried food (polenta and
courgettes, cannellini bean and leek
balls) and crêpes. At Crepapelle’s
in Florence the menu is based on
street food turned vegan. “Our
food is tasty and people don’t miss
out on cheese, cold cuts or meat”,
says Paola Morandi owner of the
restaurant together with Sara, the
cook. Who are your customers? “two
years ago, when we first opened,
customers were only vegetarian and
vegan. Today, thanks to Facebook
and to word of mouth, 30-40% of
our customers are omnivores who
choose to come here because they
are concerned about their health
and also because they are curious
to try something new”. How do you
select your raw materials? “Fruit and
vegetables come from my father’s
farm, so they are locally sourced
and safe. The rest of our products
are organic, because this is what our
customers want. At first about 50% of
our products were organic, whereas
now it’s the majority. We always
indicate the origin of our ingredients
because we want to be as clear as
possible about traceability”.
Il Desco Bistrot.
Focus on
vegetables, local sourcing and
organic foods
Orecchiette with yellow pumpkin
and burrata cheese sauce, ribollita,
legumes soups and cheakpeas
pure on Scottona roast beef. Desco
Bistrot, in the centre of Florence,
has a strong focus on vegetarian
ingredients, as much organic and
locally sourced as possible (90% of
fruit and vegetables come from the
family farm). Meat is not excluded,
though. “The most part of our offer
is vegetable-based”, says Giulia
Bargiacchi who runs the business
with husband Shams. “Our cuisine
is simple but tasty and very light,
which customers appreciate.
We often need to tell them that
vegetables have longer preparation
times than meat: they have to be
rinsed, cut and they go off quickly.
Organic food has its own price.
Vegetables need to be cooked right
to preserve their lively colours and
it’s best to use seasonal varieties,
just like my grandmas taught me. I
come from a farming tradition that
is very rich in vegetarian dishes.
Communicating quality is a priority,
because customers are more and
more conscious of what they want
to eat”.
AT PAGE 18
IN THE KITCHEN
A matter of
convenience
The tips of a vegan chef and the
experience of an omnivore chef, who
offers also a vegetarian menu, show
that cooking for these customers is
possible, as long as you keep an eye
on your expenses
By Elena Consonni
Is it possible for an omnivore chef,
who likes preparing meat and fish-
based dishes, to include credible
vegetarian and vegan options in the
menu? According to Emanuele Di
Biase, vegan pastry chef and teacher
coordinator at Veganok Academy (the
new Veganok project for vocational
education in collaboration with
Università dei Sapori in Perugia), the
answer is “yes”. In fact, he says it is
not particularly complicated either.
“Creating a vegan menu is very
easy for an Italian chef because
our country has a strong tradition
in using vegetables in the kitchen,
unlike in other countries. All our
chefs know how to prepare dishes
with raw and cooked vegetables, so
they can offer options to customers
who exclude animal-based products
from their diet, be it for heath or
ethical reasons. In order to offer a
nutritionally complete menu, it is
enough to include legumes and, if
possible, cereals like millet, quinoa or
brown rice. Nothing special, really”.
It is not necessary to venture into the
realm of specific vegan ingredients,
such as seitan or wheat’s muscle.
“This could be a further step”, says
Di Biase, “if the chef gets a positive
feedback on his vegetable-based
options and wants to enrich the
menu. It is not necessary to offer a
meat substitute in the menu to attract
vegan customers”.
INGREDIENTS AND TOOLS.
Everything you use in the kitchen must
be wholly suitable for the vegan diet.
For an omnivore chef who decides
to cook vegan food, the trickiest
ingredients are milk, butter (allowed in
a vegetarian cuisine) and fish gelatin
in pastry-making. “There is a habit
of using the first two ingredients in
particular, either as ingredients or to
cook food until creamy. Such a habit
can be so rooted as to be automatic.
This is why a chef must be extra
careful about them. In pastry-making
the only excluded product is honey
– in the vegetable world there are
alternatives. It is also obvious that a
Giorgio Perin