Massimo Bottura
I've known about Massimo Bottura for a while however when
he was coming to George Brown I knew I needed to meet him and I researched him
and watched every video related to him. I was incredibly inspired on his
childlike mentality on Italian cuisine and going back to the origins and basics
of Italian dishes like Bologna sandwich and other concoctions but taking them
to a whole new level and reinventing them.
He is definitely an innovator in the sense that he is not recreating
anything new he is just reinventing and reimaging the dish. For example he does
a dish called memory of a bologna sandwich in which a bologna sandwich is in a
siphon and aerated onto a piece of bread and supposedly tastes exactly like a
bologna sandwich and brings people back to their childhood if for just a
moment. Similar to that which the Chef Remy in Ratatouille did for the critic
Anton Ego with Ratatouille. I also am inspired by him and the fact that he
gives back to the community. He talks about the earthquake that happened in
Emilia Romagna and how hundreds of wheels of parmagiano reggiano were destroyed
and could not be sold and if they were to be sold it would ruin the reputation
of the cheese and an entire economy in Italy. To remedy this issue the
parmagiano reggiano was sold at a ridiculously low price so everyone could
afford to buy some and bandage the problem.
They had a webcasted dinner for
"Parmagiano Reggiano Night" in which Bottura created a recipe
everyone could make at home purely using the parmaggiano reggiano. It was a
cacio e peppe parmagiano reggiano which instead of using pecorino it uses the
parmagiano. It also shows the humility and humbleness Bottura has compared to a
lot of the celebrity chefs shown in the public eye today. It is important
because he also knows he has a reputation but he decided to help out his
community instead of turning away from it. I was inspired by how humble he was
when I met him. For someone who is considered the third best chef in the world
and the best chef in Italy he was incredibly humble and for me to witness that
it humbled me as well. He is someone who I would love to work for one day in
Italy or even to roam the streets with in Modena! In his cooking he does a lot of sous vide and using siphons to create a specific texture to add to a dish. In my own cooking I am not the biggest fan of sous vide or using molecular gastronomy because I feel Italian food should be kept simple and cooked simply by letting ingredients shine however I do feel at times it could be appropriate to be using sous vide and different chemicals to dissects foods even if it is far from what I would consider cooking.
K.M.W.
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