FOCUS ON SALONE DEL GUSTO/TERRA MADRE The Curtain Goes Up for the Theater of Taste

Salone del Gusto’s first day, Thursday October 23, also saw the inauguration of the Theater of Taste with an event presenting a joint initiative from Comieco and Slow Food Italy, promoting recycling while linking it with an important aspect of daily life: pleasure from good food.

The star of the lunchtime show was Riccardo De Prà, chef at the restaurant Dolada in Pieve d’Alpago near Belluno. He demonstrated how leftovers can be prepared without losing quality, seasonality and innovation.

Alberto Capatti, a historian of gastronomy, provided a historical context by going back to the middle of the 19th century, a period of crisis in which whole books were written about how to reuse leftovers in the kitchen. According to Capatti, today’s “waste “ is no longer something inedible, but can be eaten using a variety of delicious recipes.

As a starter, the chef offered a traditional bean and grain soup from Alpago, made using all the leftovers from the granary.
This was followed by a frittura (mixed fry) of salvaged ingredients like potato skins, roasted pork rind, fish skin, pumpkin and apple peels, shrimp shells and grilled cheese rinds. The different elements were served to the audience in recycled-paper bags, a delicious snack which reinterprets tradition with a sustainable vision.
The final course was a dish of offal from free-range Alpagoto lamb, a Slow Food presidium.

The menu was accompanied by two Sicilian wines from the Donna Fugata winery, whose grapes come from the Belice Valley and Pantelleria. One was made with Zibibbo and Catarratto grapes and the other, paired with the frittura, from Ansonica and Chardonnay.

The exploration of the potential of leftovers was concluded by Enzo Guizzari, editor of the L’Epresso guide. “It would be wrong to say that we should exploit leftovers only in a time of crisis; gastronomy has always focused not just on noble ingredients but also those that the kitchen normally provides from previous preparations.”

Carla Ranicki