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Day two of Identità Golose, the annual international chef congress held in Milan, has just ended after a full day of interesting presentations from chefs all around the world. The day was opened by the Italian chef Carlo Cracco before Daniel Humm and Will Guidara took to the stage for what many were saying was the best presentation of the day. The duo - who co-own Eleven Madison Park and NoMad in New York - took the opportunity to talk about the importance of service in the industry and what can happen when equal emphasis is placed on food and hospitality.
They spoke about building a trusting relationship between the kitchen and front of house and how the service side of fine dining really needs to catch up with how quickly the food side has grown in recent years - something Guidara has been trying to address with the launch of The Welcome Conference.
Another State Side representative came in the form of Sean Brock who took to the stage to describe the new Southern cuisine he researchers and serves at his Husk restaurants in Charleston and Nashville.
In a thought provoking presentation Brock spoke about the hundreds of micro cuisine that exist in the South and how they were influenced by settlers from all the world. He also spoke about the changing attitudes towards Southern cuisine as more and more people start to discover the real taste of the south. Brock is a chef who dedicates an enormous amount of effort to understanding the food he cooks from all aspects and this was apparent throughout his talk. He was also asked about the loss of particular strains of grains in the South and talked about a revival in the farming of heritage varieties. He gave the idea of a part of the U.S. that’s about ready to explode with flavour and a how pride mixed with a new found interest in food is ready to push Southern cuisine even further.
From Peru, a little late because of a lost box of ingredients, Virgilio Martinez - owner of Latin America’s Best Restaurant - spoke about the many eco systems that exist across Peru and how he serves these up in a unique way at his restaurant - something you can read more about here.
Throughout the day, five young chefs took to the stage at the S.Pellegrino stand where they presented the dishes they submitted to get to the semi-finals of S.Pellegrino Young Chef 2015 - a global talent search to find the best young chef in the world. Tomorrow the young chefs will face the jury to find out which one will make it through to the grand final - held in Milan during Expo Milano 2015.
Stay tuned for a final report from day three of Identità Golose.
