The Alliance Bistrot Chefs at Slow Fish 2013, Genoa, Italy

A group of twenty-four Italian and international renowned cooks will prepare enticing seafood and fish dishes at the Alliance Bistrot at the Slow Fish 2013 event in Italy. Organized by Slow Food together with the Liguria Regional Authority, this sixth edition of Slow Fish is being held in Genoa from May 9-12 at the city’s Porto Antico. Dedicated to the world of fish and marine ecosystems, it will bring chefs together with fishers and experts from many countries and offer visitors an open-air market, Water Workshops and much more.

Twenty of the chefs cooking in the Alliance Bistrot, situated in the Piazza delle Feste, are representing the international Alliance between chefs and Slow Food Presidia, which now involves more than 350 restaurants, osterias and pizzerias in Italy, the Netherlands and Morocco. The Alliance project began in Italy in 2009 and was subsequently launched in the Netherlands in 2012 and in Morocco this year. The Alliance chefs commit to using Presidia* products, especially those from their local region, and identify them on their menus to help promote these Slow Food projects to safeguard food biodiversity. The remaining four chefs are from Spain, England and Croatia, where the Alliance has not yet been initiated, and are strongly connected to their national Slow Food network and projects.

Over the four days of Slow Fish, the Alliance Bistrot will welcome visitors daily for lunch from 12:30 pm to 3:30 pm and for dinner from 7:30 pm until 10 pm on Thursday and until 10:30 pm on Friday and Saturday. The schedule of chefs cooking in the Alliance Bistrot kitchen is:
 

Thursday, May 9 

• 12:30 pm, Fabrizio Veznaver (Pergola) and Fabiana Mijanovic (Bucina) from Croatia: Two restaurateurs from coastal towns in Croatia who are strongly committed to regional gastronomy, in particular local fish and seafood products.  
• 1:30 pm, Silvia Cardelli (Osteria della Corte): Chef of a Michelin-starred restaurant in the Liguria region who chooses her producers with great attention and is passionate about teaching young people the art of cooking.
• 2:30 pm, Domenico De Gregorio (Osteria Lo Stuzzichino): An Alliance chef who will host the event “A hundred dinners for Slow Wine” in November at his restaurant in Naples. 
• 7 pm, Alessandro Russo (Le Tre Arcate): The seasonal and local menu of Russo’s restaurant in Naples is complemented by a cellar of 300 wines and wine tasting workshops. 
• 8 pm, Maria Aprea (La Torre): Aprea is the tireless chef of La Torre in Naples who enjoys chatting with her customers and passing on her culinary knowledge to her new staff members.
• 9 pm, Luigi Megliola and Fabrizio Barraco (Bastimento): These two chefs bring their passion for simple cuisine based on products whose origin they know well to their fish restaurant in central Turin, Piedmont, known as a place of “Italian soul food”.

Friday, May 10

• 12:30 pm, Maurizio Pinto (Voltalacarta): Situated in central Genoa, Pinto brings life to his restaurant with taste workshops and theme nights for special occasions, such as Carnival. 
• 1:30 pm, Carmine Di Bianco (Pinzimonio): In Fiumicino, Lazio, Di Bianco bases her menu entirely on seasonal products. 
• 2:30 pm, Silvia Volpe (Bacco & la Volpe): A trained sommelier, Volpe aims to rediscover ancient flavors and matched wines in her restaurant in Castelnuovo Misericordia, Tuscany.
• 7 pm, Massimiliano and Roberto Amaddeo (Ristorante da Mimmo): For 25 years, these brothers have managed the family restaurant in Bergamo, Lombardy, with an attitude that embraces local producers and authentic tastes and opposes an elitist approach towards cooking. 
• 8 pm, Gianni Bono (Ristorante Capriccio di Mare): Bono opened his fish restaurant in Viterbo, Lazio in 1990 with a great passion for his role as a chef and a commitment to guaranteeing the freshness of the fish he prepares every day. The cellar stocks more than 300 wines. 
• 9 pm, Prosenjit Sanjay Kumar (England): Leader of Slow Food Cornwall, Sanjay is well-known for his commitment to local food and his campaigns to promote Cornish sardines (he founded the School of Cornish Sardines) and opposing fish waste.

Saturday, May 11

• 12:30 pm, Luca Collami (Baldin): Luca Collami, chef of the restaurant Baldin in Genoa, Liguria, offers cooking classes and a cuisine based on fresh and local products. 
• 1:30 pm, Adele Bertaggia (Osteria Arcadia): The fish restaurant Osteria Arcadia, located in Santa Giulia di Porto Tolle, Veneto, is known for its preparations of a unique local mussel variety known as “la cozza della Sacca”.
• 2:30 pm, Antonio Badesso (Ostaria da Mariano): Since 1963, Badesso’s restaurant in Venice-Mestre has been a place where one can enjoy delicious cuisine and a convivial atmosphere. 
• 7 pm, Jordi Casas (Allium), Spain: Casas is committed to cooking traditional Catalan cuisine with true Mediterranean flavors, and opposes ‘fusion’ cooking. His restaurant is one of the 33 km-0 restaurants in Catalonia.  
• 8 pm, Antonio Terzano (Dentro Le Mura): Antonio’s restaurant in Termoli, Molise prepares fish sourced from small-scale producers and works to build relationships between its customers and fishers. 
• 9 pm, Mariangela De Simone (Il Cellaio di Don Gennaro): This restaurant in Naples, Campania offer customers natural and simple foods, prepared with passion and culinary knowledge.  

Sunday, May 12

12:30 pm – 3:30 pm, Four renowned chefs from the Dutch Alliance between chefs and Slow Food Presidia, will prepare a menu based on oysters, smoked mullet and other fish from the Wadden Sea Traditional Fishers Presidium: 

• Geert Burema (Merkelbach Restaurant): Geert has brought his cuisine based on freshest fish from local sources as well as seasonal vegetables meat from local farms to Merkelback. 
• Fabio Antonini (Pianeta Terra). For the past 13 years, chef Fabio has been committed to using organic products and sourcing food from the local region for his central-Amsterdam restaurant. 
• Vezio Furlani (Al Bácaro): Dutch and Italian Presidia products feature in the simple but excellent cuisine of Vezio’s restaurant – a small piece of Italy transferred to Amsterdam. 
• Leonardo Pacenti (Caffè Toscanini): Leonardo cooks Italian food, drawing inspiration from the country’s regions, but he uses Dutch Presidia products as well as several from Italy. 

The participating chefs will come together during Slow Fish for the Meeting of the Alliance Chefs, “Fish and Fishers: Making the Right Choices”, on Friday May 10 at 3pm, in Sala Auditorium – Muma. The meeting is open to all chef and aims to inform the restaurant sector about the international Slow Fish campaign and investigate ways to enhance future collaborations. 

For more information on the Slow Fish campaign: www.slowfood.it/slowfish/welcome_en.lasso

For more information on the Alliance Bistrot at Slow Fish: 

http://slowfish.slowfood.it/en/the-alliance-bistrot/ 

For more information on the Alliance Between Chefs and Slow Food Presidia:

http://www.slowfoodfoundation.com/alliance

* The Presidia, a project of the Slow Food Foundation of Biodiversity, sustain quality production at risk of extinction, protect unique regions and ecosystems, recover traditional processing methods, safeguard native breeds and local plant varieties.