Just like a wonderful dinner, from the moment you are seated, it is a carnival before the banquet. Every plate of food is the last splendor of the life of the ingredients, whether it is the four-season crops planted in spring and harvested in autumn, or the snow-capped bear's paw that has gone through hardships.
Some people say that when viewing Van Gogh's oil paintings in a gallery, even Bai Ding passing by will be amazed by his special technique or bright colors. If it happens to be a scholar and a writer, he will see the refraction in the painting because he knows the author's era and tragic life experience. of thousands of worlds. So how many diners, cooks and food are there, how many people are willing to taste it? Taking advantage of this short spring break, I found a 2015 Netflix documentary about food stories, Chef's Table, in which each episode will spend 60 minutes introducing a world's top celebrity chef and Ta's food story.
The first episode is about Massimo Bottura. Massimo Bottura is currently the world's top chef. In the words of Wikipedia, "is an Italian restaurateur and the chef patron of Osteria Francescana", what kind of restaurant is this Osteria Francescana? Three Michelin stars, ranked second in the World's 50 Best Restaurants by the authoritative food magazine S.Pellegrino in 2015, and rose one place in June 2016 to become the world's first!
This restaurant has been operated by Massimo since 1995. Before that, Massimo was well-known in Italy and worked in world-class restaurants for a long time. Oh, by the way, what was the most prestigious dish before Massimo became famous? It is a traditional Italian home-cooked dish, mainly referring to the home-made handmade pasta, as well as tortellini. And when Massimo decided to run his own restaurant, he also positioned the restaurant as a "tradition of Modena". But if Osteria Francescana is just one of Modena's most traditional restaurants, we may not know Massimo. Just like you can never know whether the most authentic Lanzhou ramen is Lao Majia or Muslim beef noodle soup, you can’t tell whether the first hamburger was made by McDonald’s or Burger King, and it’s even more impossible to know whether the Colonel’s chicken nuggets are surnamed Kent. Still from Kent, USA. Because the so-called "traditional recipes" and "traditional practices" never belong to one person, but belong to a whole with a common label. These experiences with "collective memories" have never been set by the supplier, and the supplier is just trying to meet the stringent requirements of diners for "memories".
In the film, Massimo explains why he decided to make Francesecana something different in the first place.
This is the arrogance of a skilled worker. It is true that only when an ordinary kitchen worker has become so numb and confident that his product can be recognized by a few people even if he is deviant, can he make such a bold decision. This store was built by Massimo with all its wealth. And in the small circle of the restaurant industry, once the chef is considered to be no longer the same, the so-called "future" is basically the present perfect tense. Since the first disc wonton was not welcomed by the media, fewer and fewer guests understood Massimo's approach. Why is the so-called "most traditional home cooking" not what it used to be? Why does the lemon tower look like it's broken, why are there only 6 pieces of wanton wontons, and why is the spaghetti that grandma can make only a small roll? Even the audience of the barrage was complaining: After eating like this, I have to make up two instant noodles when I go home.
Massimo hopes to tell the world what the traditional taste is through Francesecana. In fact, he works harder than anyone else. Just like the senior food critic who happened to encounter a big traffic jam when Massimo couldn’t hold on, and stopped at Modena without prejudice, he said
When meals are sublimated into art, the first thing a dish needs to satisfy is no longer "fullness", but stripping off "fullness", so that diners can appreciate the chef's use of the most appropriate method to reproduce the food itself. To reproduce the tradition of food, the first thing to do is to let the diners pay attention to the food, and sophistication is to let all the attention of the diners fall on the food. At the same time, it has to be said that this is indeed a decision that only an absolutely confident chef can make. After all, when food becomes delicate, it is like a magnifying glass, and every bite of food cannot be missed. Every plate, every rhythm of serving, every clink of glasses, and every round of music will be infinitely magnified and aroused.
Therefore, there are indeed very few world-class masters, and it is a pity that they are mainly Western food. In my opinion, this cannot simply be said to be a reflection of the strengths and weaknesses of Eastern and Western cultures in terms of diet. It is more necessary to admit that the absolutely traditional Chinese food has survived to this day, and it is more about the so-called "harmony". Just as the top Chinese vegetarians seek to replace meat from color and aroma, the most popular cuisine is spicy and exciting Sichuan cuisine. Over time, Chinese diners will forget about the original taste of soy products among vegetarians, and only prefer fake "vegetarian meat". Chinese people who are also numb from the exercise of spices can no longer understand the value of "flavors of mountains and seas". And the importance of "not eating from time to time".
However, Massimo's story is also a product of the last century. What if he didn't meet the right one in the end? Or, the flood of "public evaluation" "truthfully" drowns its efforts in the memories of a small number of people.
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