Sharing, dialogue, and haute cuisine. In Pordenone, young Italian talents gather to discuss ethics, sustainability, avant-garde, and innovation.
The Event
Energy, determination, study, and perseverance were the keywords that characterized "Stars Cooking - Young Challenge," the congress organized by journalist, gastronome, and TV host Fabrizio Nonis, aka "El Bekér." These powerful words, during the two days of the second edition of the congress gathering young chefs under 35, materialized in their stories and performances.
"Emancipazione Etika: Free and Independent Thoughts" is the theme chosen by Nonis for 2024 with the aim of finding the right balance of values in the world of food and catering in general. Ethics, sustainability, avant-garde, and innovation are very dear topics to "El Bekér," who has always been personally involved in the controversial "world of meat." "In the post-war period, eating meat was a status symbol, few could afford it; then in the '70s - '80s, everyone bought freezers to buy tons of meat and freeze it; now, in 2024, it almost seems that eating meat is a sin to the point of inventing synthetic meat. So, I wondered, why have we gone from poor excess to critical excess? We need to emancipate ourselves and find a new balance," says Nonis.
Present at the opening of the event, held at the Electrolux Professional Center of Excellence in Pordenone, were representatives from various institutions: from Minister Luca Ciriani to the Mayor of Udine Alberto Felice De Toni, to the councilor of the municipality of Pordenone Lidia Diomede, to the CEO of Electrolux Alberto Zanata. Over the two days, eight young chefs were accompanied by six illustrious mentors: Nicola Portinari, Ezio Marinato, Paolo Casagrande, Erminio Alajmo, Silvio Giavedoni, and Alessandro Gilmozzi.
Portinari from "La Peca," a real forge of young talents with a brigade ranging from 18 to 26 years old, emphasizes the importance of nourishing and caring for oneself with food and establishing relationships of respect and trust in the kitchen. Respect is also central in the words of Ezio Marinato, European and world champion of bakers and teacher at Alma: "Bread is freedom: it saves lives and souls. There is no beautiful or ugly bread, all bread must be respected." Among the under 35 chefs lighting up the stoves of the splendid Electrolux kitchen are Alessandra del Favero and Oliver Piras, chefs of the restaurant "Il Carpaccio" at Le Royal Monceau in Paris, which this year was named "Best Italian Restaurant in the World for 2024" by "50 Top Italy."
Alessandra, the first woman to participate in "Stars Cooking - Young Challenge," and Oliver, both in the kitchen and in life, propose a spaghetti cooked in marinda tomato water, whipped with caper juice, mandarin oil, and verdello. Assisting Alessandra and Oliver in sourcing Italian excellences in Paris is Cédric Casanova, a former acrobat from the "Cirque du Soleil," passionate about oils and high-quality ingredients, which he offers in his boutique in the City of Light. "Because when you are an Italian abroad, you become even more patriotic," confesses Alessandra.
Nicolò Pometti, chef at "La Peca" in Lonigo, instead tackles a vegetable dish: a cabbage from Organic Forest, a Leonceno reality with a cultivation principle that enriches the soil and allows for products with greater organoleptic and nutritional properties. "Cabbage and Gold" is the name of the dish. The use of gold here is extremely symbolic, aimed at celebrating an agriculture that takes but also gives. While preparing the dish with complex notes, from acidic to sour to sulfurous, specially designed for "Stars Cooking," Nicolò emphasizes the importance of technology to achieve more precise results in less time and with less waste but above all, it ensures consistency in results.
"However, one must never lose the most romantic and poetic side because a machine executes, but man thinks," concludes Pometti. Following Nicolò's reflections, Paolo Pettenuzzo from the Electrolux Professional Chef Academy begins his speech. "I am a child of anticipatory technological perspective, that is, within Electrolux Professional, we work considering the future to change the present. Technology, in fact, goes hand in hand with sustainability and ethics. When I entered Electrolux 12 years ago, buying a kitchen, for most of our customers, was a need for updating, for building; today, however, it reflects the desire to work in a simpler, more careful, more respectful way of the raw material, as well as of the human aspect."
After the lunch break, Federico Rovacchi, chef of the restaurant "Baita Piè Tofana" in Cortina d'Ampezzo, takes the stage of the Electrolux Professional kitchen. While preparing his dish of cappelletti stuffed with Parmigiano, beef and capon broth, pumpkin, marinda tomato, and mustard, he says: "To be avant-garde, one must always look to the past, take all the good things, and internalize them to build the future. At Baita Piè Tofana, we are inspired and we care a lot about revisiting old recipes. It is important that each of us chefs cooks not to exalt our ego, but for the people who come to visit us and to enhance the richness of the raw material. In my view, especially after Covid, we must be happy, yes, in work, but also in our private life."
Closing the curtain on the first day is Matteo Metullio from the restaurant "Harry's Piccolo Restaurant" in Trieste, with two Michelin stars. He starts by preparing a dish from the "Incontro" menu of his restaurant; a meeting of the vision of the vegetable, the land, and the sea. It is a dish executed by two chefs: Matteo, a seafood chef who dabbled in mountain cuisine before returning to the sea, and Davide De Pra, a mountain chef who tried his hand at seafood. It's a risotto cooked in chicken broth, whipped with butter, extra virgin olive oil, Parmesan cheese, bagna cauda cream, served with a raw of creamy Istrian scampi emulsified with oyster and barcolana anchovy garum, tarragon oil, and sea urchins… if this isn't innovation!
Matteo argues, "There can't be innovation without tradition. If we look at what grandmothers used to do, very tied to the budget, we realize they tried not to waste because waste doesn't mean one ingredient is good and the other is bad, they simply have different uses. Also, thanks to our reality, which includes bistros and restaurants, we manage to have a circular system; we find it easier to use everything and buy better. Ethical considerations, however, don't stop at food but are fundamental for the company-employee relationship and vice versa. Needs have changed, and even if the economic aspect remains important, there's a need for intervention in welfare, definitely a different tax burden and not just in our sector. Meritocracy, then, is no longer reflected only in economic terms but in a discourse of time and creative development to stimulate all young people to experiment."
With the irony, energy, and irreverence that characterizes him, Fabrizio Nonis, as a good host, opens the second day of the "Stars Cooking Young Challenge," asking Andrea Rosi from Electrolux Professional for a comment on the topics discussed. "First of all, it's nice to see how young people approach this profession with passion and how there's a strong correlation between commitment and results. Then I would like to emphasize how alive the attention to sustainability is, which must pass not only through raw materials and their supply but also through equipment. Finally, I want to reaffirm the importance of corporate ethics: all companies must look at the human sphere, they must emphasize health and well-being both for employees and customers." A projector descends onto the "stage" and Paolo Casagrande appears on the screen in connection from his "Lasarte Restaurant," a three-Michelin-starred restaurant in Barcelona.
Paolo emphasizes the importance of the environment and the people surrounding each of us in our personal and professional growth journey. "It's essential to be perseverant, to have a clear goal, so self-motivate, but equally important is to surround yourself with people who support you. Personally, I've had this luck, so it's my priority to accompany the young chefs in their culinary and life growth. My wish for all young chefs is to be determined and never back down at the first difficulties. You must be eager to learn and give it your all." From Barcelona, we return to Pordenone to listen to the other three mentors on the second day. Erminio Alajmo, who has seen many young people pass through his kitchens, speaks about meritocracy and study, but also about practice. "Young people must immerse themselves in the kitchen to fully embody this profession made of passion but also sacrifices. We have the responsibility to train them, no one just peels potatoes with us: every young person during their journey tries their hand at all stations. I always tell them to 'steal with their eyes,' to be curious to acquire as much as possible from those who already have experience."
Silvio Giavedoni then intervenes, faithfully consulting the Alajmo family and the Alajmo Group for over twenty years, says: "I always urge young people not to be afraid to invest in themselves and their time. They must dare, with respect and loyalty, but they must dare." Alessandro Gilmozzi, President of the Italian Association of Taste Ambassadors for two years and chef of "El Molin," shifts the focus to education. "Study and research are crucial in education so that every young person can leave a significant mark. It's important to enter schools and give confidence to young people."
Just as Erminio Alajmo recommended, it's now time for practice, and entering the stage with a venison tartare is Mattia Barni, chef of the "Alajmo Cortina" restaurant. The dish conceived by Mattia is on the restaurant's menu and pays homage to two iconic dishes of the Alajmo Group: the "Erminio Tartare" and Massimiliano's chop. The choice of venison meat aims to contextualize the dish in the mountain environment. Mattia emphasizes how technology has helped him not only minimize waste but also approach mountain ingredients such as deer meat, venison, and freshwater fish. "Technology in the kitchen allows for reducing times, but above all, creating new consistencies and textures and enhancing and exalting ingredients often considered less noble such as offal."
Now the conduction of the kitchen passes on to Ciro Scamardella, who emphasizes the importance of study and curiosity. "I always invite young people to sit at restaurant tables, to taste, to reflect, to think, to write, to internalize, and to continue buying new books. We must always keep alive the child within us, as read in 'The Little Prince,' to not get stuck in our comfort zone but to break the patterns even if there's a risk of making mistakes. We must never fossilize." His words materialize when he presents the dish: a winter watermelon and mackerel ceviche. "The years I spent alongside Roy Caceres, a chef of Colombian origin, have greatly influenced me. There I understood the importance of looking beyond our borders to observe and learn other techniques, certainly not the ingredients. Seeing Italian cuisine interpreted by a foreign chef allowed me to come into contact with new approaches and techniques. In this dish, in fact, I used an exotic technique to work with Mediterranean ingredients. In the current historical moment, I believe that pure stylistic exercises no longer have meaning, but we must aim for the essential."
Before the lunch break, we return to Spain with the intervention of Andrea Drago, one of Paolo Casagrande's most talented students. Chef Drago, originally from Como but in Spain for over 10 years, appointed by Casagrande to manage the consultancy of the "Orobianco Ristorante" in Calpe near Alicante, received a Michelin star in just 10 months. "Having a master who, with respect and loyalty, allows you to express yourself freely is very important; this approach is a real driver for creativity. With trust, study, and hard work, skills and ambitions grow, and great masters are the true source of inspiration. In our profession, constancy is fundamental because it's a profession that gives a lot but not in the short term. Sacrifices are needed, a bit of luck, and results will come."
The evidence of Andrea's achievements, in this case, is enclosed in a tortellini filled with tuna parpatana, the part between the head and the belly. An audacious dish that demonstrates how even in fish, parts considered less valuable can be protagonists and unleash flavors, often unexpected. The tale of how forgotten or overlooked ingredients can give life to exceptional dishes continues with Francesco Vincenzi. Francesco, the chef of "Franceschetta58," embarks on one of his iconic dishes: sturgeon with a plain broth where a freshwater fish, often overlooked, is wrapped in pork netting and finished with a broth obtained from the carcasses of animals used in the kitchen. "I like to tell the story of the territory with dishes, to valorize raw materials that are considered secondary: everyone is enthusiastic about eating caviar, but few eat sturgeon. These ingredients give me a lot of satisfaction, and I believe this falls within the concept of ethical emancipation."
Also, the boiled tortellini with Parmesan broth that follows embodies the same principle. "It was during the holidays, while we were serving boiled meats, that I thought of this dish. The filling is made with minced boiled leftovers to which we add parsley and capers to evoke the green sauce, so that upon chewing, the palate truly perceives the sensation of eating a plate of boiled meat, not just the individual cut. It's a dish I care a lot about because it encapsulates a message that I want to convey to those who come to visit us, and I hope it serves as an inspiration to recover leftovers and create something good at home."
As he finishes the tortellini, he shifts the focus to the kitchen environment: "The kitchen is sharing, constant and daily communication. I feed off the experiences of my brigade members; I like to listen to their stories and thoughts. Massimo Bottura taught me not to get lost in routine, every gesture makes a difference in the dish, and whoever comes to dinner today doesn't come tomorrow and should receive the same treatment. He taught me to think that whatever I do, I must do it as if I were doing it for myself, both economically and in terms of pleasure. I consider cooking the most beautiful job in the world; of course, there are initial sacrifices that can be daunting at eighteen, but what it takes away from you immediately returns multiplied." To conclude the convention organized by "El Bekér," meat couldn't be missing. Vincenzi prepares an amazing pork pluma slightly roasted, and here too, the chef's attention to cultivating relationships with small local producers emerges, in this case, those of Mora Romagnola.
"Stars Cooking - Young Challenge": a congress that stimulates minds and palates. "Ad Maiora Semper," see you in 2025!
