Magazine F with Bobby Cortez

Magnifying glasses, hand-hewed wood boxes, edible perfume, and risotto with the texture of ice cream form the foundation of Magazine F’s performative and sensory tasting experience at Salone.

Bobby Cortez — the visionary and eclectic American food artist who’s been a private chef to Lady Gaga, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, along with actors Eddie Murphy, Antonio Banderas, and Melanie Griffith — will lead guests, with assistance from Victoria Kaiser, through a one-of-a-kind experience with food. 

Entitled “Origin – Transformation – Consumption,” Cortez’s Salone collaboration is in partnership with Magazine F, the Food Documentary Magazine. Each issue of Magazine F is a 360-degree exploration of how an ingredient is grown, prepared and shared around the world. In-depth interviews, fascinating facts, inspiring stories and beautiful photos depict the everyday ingredients that chefs use to prepare foods in completely innovative ways. 

Magazine F is published in both Korean and English by South Korea’s B Media, and distributed in North America by entrepreneur Christopher Mascis. The publication is known worldwide for its singular approach to enriching readers’ experience with everyday ingredients. Each issue puts one ingredient “under a magnifying glass” to give readers—and for Salone, attendees—an up-close-and-personal, kinesthetic experience with ingredients in fresh, unexpected ways. 

Together, Cortez and Mascis will put their work under literal magnifying glasses to give Salone attendees an entirely unique interaction with single ingredients.

Mascis will share compelling remarks about the main themes of the magazine: 

“Origin” (how and where a food is grown, tended, and harvested), 

“Transformation” (how history, economics and culture affect the way humans impact ingredients to meet their needs and express their desires), and finally, 

“Consumption” (how the preparation and savoring of ingredients reflects our identity, creativity, curiosity, and the joy of life).

At Salone, Mascis will also highlight the relationships between these themes from Magazine F and Salone. For example, like food, furniture expresses a human need as ancient as our need to feed ourselves. Like food, the products on display at the Salone come from the raw materials (“ingredients”) of earth (wood, stone, metals), and are designed and physically transformed to then be “consumed” in homes and offices. And then, just like food, support daily life. 

This captivating sensory tasting experience curated by Bobby Cortez will spotlight single ingredients, activate attendees to experience the essence of ingredients in entirely new ways, and bring Magazine F to life:

9:30 – 11:45 ORIGINS: 
Chocolate Soil, roasted almonds, buckwheat, tarragon, candy cap mushroom cream, Ceylon cinnamon 

Menu: chocolate-mushrooms-spices / chocolate earth, tarragon, caramelized mushroom cream, Ceylon cinnamon

Guests will examine their food through magnifying glasses and savor it from a new perspective.

12:00 – 2:30 TRANSFORMATION:
Honey-Tea-Yogurt

Honey butter cake, tangy yogurt cream, honeycomb tuille, Edible perfume of Roman chamomile, oat cream, lavender honey and candied bergamot peel  

Inspired by a perfume maker profiled in Magazine F, Cortez will take participants through an experience with glass vases containing a single calla. A sauce infused with the aroma of honey can be poured from inside the flower into a bowl —showcasing the essence of what bees do to transform pollen into honey.

3:15 – 5:30 CONSUMPTION

Rice-Coffee-Wine

In this ode to Italian culture, guests will enjoy cream of Acquarello Carnaroli risotto—with the texture of ice cream—and sauce of Barbaresco red wine and sabayon of single origin coffee.

Attendees will engage with these tastes via a small black box—unlocking it with a key to find the treasures hidden inside.

Food Design Arena, Pavilions 2 – 4