QUALITALY

AGO. SET. 2017

MAGAZINE

even if it’s yet to be codified and

it’s still unknown how it interacts

with health. “But a correlation

is there – explains Francesca

Fallarino, professor of molecular

pharmacology at the Department

of Experimental Medicine of the

University of Perugia –. Bacteria

adapt to the environment in which

they live or what they eat. The more

macrobiota is rich and diversified,

the healthier you are, if it is poor it

is correlated with metabolic diseases

such as diabetes. A diet rich in

saturated fats and sugars depletes it,

while fibres have an active role in

creating short fatty acids that have

a protective action on the intestine.”

The Holy Grail or the ideal feeding

has not yet been found, but in

some way is correlated with the

Macrobiota. “We have known for a

long time that the Mediterranean

diet is healthier than others. Now

research groups around the world

are looking to understand why”.

Nutrition of the future? “I think

there will be more and more foods

enriched with substances which

protect health. Less processed

and industrial foods, with a low

nutritional value, will be used and

raw foods, as well as ancient foods,

rich in fibre, will be discovered.

And we will probably be able to

correlate the type of nutrition with

the personal characteristics of the

individual.” Not only that: “In the

future, working on our Macrobiota

also with functional foods will be a

way to complement pharmacological

therapy, and also serve to reduce

the intake of medications because

they will increase the effects.”

Time-frame: uncertain

AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION

Cultivate the same products, using

less water and resources. This is

the road that agriculture is taking.

In various ways: with automation

and apps that involve time, with

genome editing to fight diseases

and increase resistance to extreme

climatic events. Hydroponic cultures

(in which plants grow in a nutrient

solution) and drip crops (conceived

years ago in Israel) are systems that

can be used even in urban contexts.

In London, the underground tunnels

used as anti-aircraft shelters during

the Second World War, are used to

grow salad.

The Grow Up Community Farms

company has created large boxes

installed on the roofs where with

a mix of hydroponic and vertical

cultures grow salad and aromatic

herbs. A trend that is involving

some restaurants eager to propose

vegetables “from the garden to the

table”.

Time-frame: Now

HI-TECH SENIORS

Basically because they are the richest

target (not only from the numerical

point of view but also from the

financial one) in the coming years,

especially in Italy. They have specific

needs: difficulty swallowing (which

obliges them to resort to blended

foods or gels) or digestion, and often

between one ban and the other lose

the taste of eating. For them an EU

project proposes to use nutritionally

balanced but aesthetically pleasing

dishes. And in Japan some restaurants

have already been equipped to

accommodate this target of customers.

Time-frame: 2/5 years

AT PAGE 20

Food Pairing,

the Russian roulette

of flavour

Curiosity, wanting to experience

innovative experiences and skills

in “stealing” the ingredients from

the dish to the glass and vice versa.

Here are the basic cards for food

pairing, the combination of food and

cocktail that plays simultaneously

with similarity and contrast of taste

By Maddalena Baldini

It would seem we’ve almost gone back

100 years or, more precisely, 1931,

when Tommaso Marinetti, in the

midst of Futurism, launched the

Manifesto of Futurist Cuisine. Just

trivial recipes, just traditional dishes,

just pasta and an all-clear to revisit

ingredients and recipes, perhaps

through a “more careful” analysis

and a discovery of the individual

components.

All of this, of course, translated to

a new millennium, can be found at

the base of what is now called food

pairing, that is, the discipline that

compares and studies the molecular

chain of food also in relation to

cocktails. Well, a sort of interweaving

between barman and chef, a

partnership of reciprocal exchange of

knowledge and daring combinations

that can bring to the table a sort of

breakdown and assembly of olfactory

and taste notes.

For some, this form of study still

represents an impassable limit, but

nothing is strange if evaluated closely

(and out of the food pairing schemes)

like many ingredients, even the most

opposite, once analysed, can find a

happy agreement.

And why then, following this

“musicality” of taste – and also here

Marinetti had already proposed a

cuisine combined with music – the

food of the table does not become that

of the glass? The world of mixology

(itself) is a constant evolution of

experiments, tests, assemblies and

proposals: the modern consumer

(connoisseur or not) when he sits

at the bar, looks for and expects

something that can leave a sign, an

original pairing made of surprising

mixes... the cocktail flanked by the

kitchen is fine. Why then not go

further and recreate a suitable cuisine

for that kind of drink?

Here is the basis of the Food Pairing,

a combination of pleasure that can

follow not only the similarity of

flavours, but also the contrast and

seasonality, the important thing is to

provoke emotions, amazement and

desire to try.

“Our goal is to create a unique

experience, always with quality

ingredients” – says Gianfranco

Morgante, owner of the Morgante,

the locale in the Vicolo dei Lavendai,

in the Navigli Milanese - every night

we propose cocktails that steal

ingredients from the kitchen and

dishes that ‘extort’ ingredients to

cocktails... “Chef and barman are

elbow to elbow.”

How do customers approach Food

Pairing with respect to traditional

wine and food combinations?

Whoever enters the locale wants