IDENTITA’ GOLOSE 2018

Identità Golose Milano 2018, savouring the flavours and scents of Valtellina 

At the appropriate demonstration for the sector, the Chef and accompanying Brigade from La Fiorida brought centre-stage (and onto everyone’s palates) intimations of Valtellina creativity and tradition.

But at the same time, flavours, products, characters and ideas from Valtellina all came together to take part in the 2018 staging of Identità Golose Milano. From the 3rd to 5th March the most elaborate ever edition took to the stage at the sophisticated and persuasive Congresso internazionale di Cucina e Pasticceria d’Autore in Milan: with a wealth of leading players, rotating between platforms and the hundreds of seminars and workshops and an equal wealth of innovation, Identità Golose reaffirmed itself as the genuine agorà of the culture of quality catering.

 Saturday 3rd March and Valtellina is one of the leading players of its Sector

To try to put some perspective on the full scope that the event has assumed today, the very first staging in 2005 saw 18 guest speakers being introduced to the public; during the “long weekend” which has just come to a close, within the excellent format conceived and developed by Paolo Marchi and Claudio Ceroni 120 top contributors took part – among them Chef, Pasticcieri and Maestri dell’Ospitalità (the likes of Massimo Bottura, Carlo Cracco, Davide Oldani, Niko Romito, Ernst Knam) who fully explored the current state of the art within each sector, whilst managing to throw light on innovation and new trends.

Within the interweaving of themes, characters, classes, naturally enough Valtellina made a decisive contribution to the development of the central narrative of the Event: the Human Factor and its key role in the construction of a philosophy not only for cooking, but also towards a global approach to the theme of contemporary co-existence.

Saturday 3rd March, and the three key moments when the Brigade of the Azienda Agrituristica La Fiorida di Mantello (SO) and Chef Franco Aliberti and Gianni Tarabini were to leave their mark.

The last-named shared his reflections on the event’s major theme: “The Human Factor makes plain its potential in the value of relationships: with colleagues, with the supply chain of the territory and of course with Guests. It’s a factor which enhances the relationship between the territory and the people who cultivate it, rear animals on it and keep intact its vital traditions. It’s a relationship from which raw materials and products can evolve and express passion and quality”.

For Gianni Tarabini, Executive Chef of La Fiorida and Stella Michelin, what is also important is: “the rapport between the people who come together to form the Kitchen Brigade. Because this is the place where ideas are tossed about, where intuition abounds and thus where experimentation leads to emerging flavours which will go on to represent local history and originality. Hence the Human Factor becomes essential in the endorsement of the heritage of a territory and its supply chain, served up on the palate and seen through the eyes of the Guest”.

 Seminars, Workshops and Guests of the Highest Order

Three invitations, between seminars and workshops at Identità Golose Milano 2018 which on the morning of Saturday 3rd March were to feature the Chef and Kitchen Brigade of La Fiorida.

It was Chef Franco Aliberti who kicked things off at the Ambasciatori del Gusto Stand, the Association founded to represent the Italian concept of Taste, worldwide, identifying the favoured finery and finesse of the pasticciere whilst presenting his very own sweet “Vegetale”; a rather special encounter between Truffle, Jerusalem Artichoke, hazelnut and white chocolate, which features temptingly on the current menu at the restaurant‘ La Preséf’, La Fiorida’s shining “Star”. It was a presentation which clearly won the hearts of participants in the seminar through the magic of both the creative process and in the taste of the end result.

A little later, the entire Brigade led by Chef Gianni Tarabini completely captured the imagination of all at the Stand representing the Istituzionale di Regione Lombardia with a cooking demonstration in which a traditional dish was revisited in distinctly creative fashion with the taste of “Tripe and Snails”, accompanied by one of the great classics proposed by the Starred restaurant La Presef at La Fiorida: “Gnocco al Bitto”. Aromas and reminiscences of Valtellina, a farming culture and life in the upper mountain pastures which captivated 500 visitors all of whom wanted to engage with its distinctive nature, including Ernst Knam, starred “guru” of the culinary arts and internationally renowned pasticcera , and Enrico Derflingher, formerly Best World Chef and Chef to the Royal Household In England and the White House: a genuine surprise which involved lengthy and enjoyable conversation, with the inevitable photo opportunities immediately shared on social media.

And finally, in the afternoon, Chef Franco Aliberti proposed the simplest, but no less delicious snacks: bread, butter and jams, this time at the Molino Quaglia; splendid examples of Italian excellence in the flour “camp”, from which he chose 6 varieties selected to illustrate bread production which enhances the taste of quality butter from the La Fiorida dairy and the fruit jams cultivated on the farm complex. A genuine snack reminiscent of childhood days with which Franco Aliberti wanted to deliver a variant on the theme “country refreshment”, in which hints of wild berries matched the strong character of goat’s cheese.

Another occasion on which the sensations and undercurrents of Valtellina enthralled a select assembly of gourmet, but also catering operatives, experts in quality hospitality and the national media.