Words: Ali Tufan Koc | Photography: Signe Birck
A skinny, Italian chef named Massimo Bottura insists that we should never trust him.
Where does the first spark of chef thinking come from?
I didn’t choose to become a chef, it just happened. I like to think that the profession chose me. I don’t know if given the choice, whether I would become a chef or not. The hours are terrible, you have to sacrifice everything, and there are no guarantees. I certainly wouldn’t advise my daughter or son to enter into this profession but at the same time, I cannot imagine doing anything else.
People’s creative ideas come from different places: dreams, books, and memories. Where do your ideas come from?
Creativity happens at the most unexpected moments.
I will be watching a film, walking the dog, or listening to a record on the turntable. Inspiration comes from the world around me. You have to be ready to catch the flash in the dark though because it only passes once. I often advise young chefs to read, travel and dig as deep as they can into their culture to understand who they are and where they come from. Then and only then can you discover your true motivations, passions, and inspiration. This is what I have done over my 30-year career.
I safeguard my sensitivity in this competitive world by balancing who I am today and where I have come from. I often say, “To create, you have to know everything, and forget everything.”
Living in the present but never forgetting all that came before you. It is so important to fill one’s suitcase with culture, books, music, literature and art, travels and then, kitchen experience. Cooking is only not manual labor but also a thinking man’s job. One of the most valuable ingredients or tools in the kitchen, and one often left behind, is the mind….and if you really think about it, the only 0 kilometers cooking going on is taking place in our minds.
Do you have periods where you to research? Are there different kinds of research depending on the different menus?
We are researching all the time and experimenting with our ideas. We never stop thinking, looking and creating. It very is important to the contemporary kitchen to stay fresh, alive and creating new dishes. It is what drives us.
People don’t like to sit for as long as they used to. What else is changing in food culture? What are the main challenges people are going to face in ten years?
Every kitchen has a way of working. The Italian kitchen has traditionally been one where very little is wasted. This is because there was great famine and poverty in Italy before the wars. Every part of an animal is used, every part of a vegetable and even leftover ingredients are used. We practice this in our kitchen at Osteria Francescana and try to teach young chefs to be resourceful with ingredients, to not be wasteful, to have respect for the food that they are preparing but also the food they eat daily. Our staff meals are healthy and fresh because we believe in the regenerative power of food.
Food for Soul isn’t only about filling up hungry bellies but nourishing the body and soul. The spotlight is on chefs today, so they need to use that energy to promote change. Reaching out and getting everyone in the community involved is the first step to making change. Every restaurant can do something. Contribute to a local charity by teaching them how to use their recourses better or offer to cook a special meal one night a month. A simple gesture of sitting down to a meal with people in need and breaking bread with them can be the first step. And it can change everything because at the end of the day, it is about bringing dignity back to the table. A warm, seasonal, and delicious meal shared at a table with others is much more than the sum of its ingredients. It is a gesture of love.
As a chef, do you explore the fanciest and showiest places? Do you go for a fifteen-course meal to try and find inspiration?
Fancy and showy are not adjectives that interest me when it comes to choosing a restaurant. When I have the occasion, I dine out (a rare occasion) I chose to go where my friends and colleagues are cooking. That can be anywhere from Menton at Mirazur with Mauro Colagreco to Daniel Boulud’s Daniel in New York to the countryside in Mantova for pumpkin filled pasta at Dal Pescatore where Nadia Santini has been cooking for over 40 years. These are places that stimulate my mind, revive memories but also remind me why I do what I do. These are places where people have dedicated their lives to their profession and to the art of hospitality. But don’t get me wrong, on a daily basis, I love to eat at my local pizzeria, a Trattoria where I used to eat at as a kid) and on Mondays, when Osteria Francescana, is closed you’ll find me eating at our offshoot restaurant Franceschetta58.
Remind us why we should Never Trust a Skinny Italian Chef!
It is an ironic title to provoke the public to re-think their preconceptions of what the Italian kitchen is... and lead them to dream about what the Italian kitchen can be. The classic image of the Italian chef is round, jolly and with a big pan of spaghetti. I’d like to think that there is a new Italian chef, not only me, but a whole generation, redefining Italian kitchen by focusing on ingredients, techniques, the evolution of traditional recipes, and respect for our deep cultural food heritage. We are all taking the best of the past and bringing it into the future. We are cooking delicious, healthy and beautiful Italian food that may look different than you expect. This is what the title of the book means in a humorous and sarcastic way. – [Revised, and re-edited from an interview with Ali Tufan Koc]
* Extended version of our interview with Massimo Bottura will appear in our launch issue.