Identità Golose is back at the Salone

The Salone del Mobile.Milano is renewing its collaboration with Identità Golose Milano – the International Hub of Gastronomy because of their shared mission and intent. Both are firmly convinced that our future needs to be planned right now, in the present, and increasingly geared to sustainability and respect for the environment. Doing so – also – begins with design and food.

The gastronomic project, conceived as an integral part of the visitor experience, is split between four pavilions, with four Food Courts, each of which features a group of chefs. Each of them will come up with an iconic dish, sweet or savoury, that can be put together on the spot, purchased and either taken away or eaten there and then. A programme tailormade for the Salone, showcasing an innovative gastronomic concept that interprets the future of cuisine and of taste.   

Respect for the environment and signature cuisine make up the common thread that characterises the special Food Court in Pavilion 15, which is given over to S.Project, as part of the Design with Nature project, curated and designed by the architect Mario Cucinella, which explores a new dimension of design – producing and living in syntony with nature. The Identità Golose concept is interpreted by a selection of chefs whose great passion for and awareness of positive change shines through every day. Their mission is to work with “sustainable” producers and suppliers so as to avoid waste, and reduce or do away with plastic and other non-recyclable materials in their production chains.  They work directly with growers, farmers and fishermen, use natural pastures, grow plants and breed animals, using regenerative methods such as no-dig kitchen gardens and secondary crop rotation. One of these is Gianni Tarabini, chef at the Michelin-starred La Présef in Mantello in the Province of Sondrio, who describes himself as an artisan of food with a daily commitment to sustainability that has already netted him the Green Star; then there are Federico Malinverno and Vittorio Leani, chefs at Caffè La Crepa at Isola Dovarese, Province of Cremona, who have notched up a Green Star and created a cuisine that strongly reflects the surrounding countryside that recognises the importance of its rivers and Domingo Schingaro, chef at the restaurant I due Camini in Borgo Egnazia, who likes to experiment with plant-based gastronomy. Their dishes are designed to trigger a desire to fully understand a new way of conceiving cookery, cutting waste to a minimum, and choosing and consuming ingredients more carefully, in a more ethical and sustainable approach.

Another three Food Courts can be found in Pavilions 2, 8 and 14, ready to take visitors on a gastronomic journey of discovery into the creations of some of Italy’s greatest chefs and artisans with a gift for getting the most out of  our country’s ingredients and the savoir faire of its leading lights. A taste tour of Italy’s top regional excellences, narrating the country and a vision of contemporary gastronomy forged by a range of very different creators. 

The protagonists include: Carlo Cracco with Marco Pedron, pastry chef at Cracco in Galleria, an established key figure alongside the famous chef for the last four years; Cristina Bowerman with Bowie by Cristina Bowerman, her format conceived for high-end delivery in Rome and Milan; Andrea Ribaldone and Edoardo Traverso, kitchen coordinator and resident chef at Identità Golose Milano, respectively; Giovanni Ricciardella, chef at Cascina Vittoria, who trained with Antonino Cannavacciuolo, Davide Oldani and Iginio Massari; then there’s Viviana Varese, chef patron at VIVA, a Michelin starred restaurant inside Eataly Smeraldo in Milan, with her brightly-coloured and exciting cuisine;  Eugenio Boer, chef at Bu:r, a reserved man who loves making dishes into memories; Federico Sgorbini, resident chef at the Lino restaurant in Pavia, the area he comes from, and whose cuisine champions local produce in a contemporary key.

Thus, yet again, thanks to Identità Golose, the Salone del Mobile.Milano has co-authored an inspirational project that involves Italian creative excellence in the realm of food, fostering a joyful, varied and successful way of making food an integral part of all the wonders on exhibit and another key to responsibly designing the future.