Qualitaly_123

JUN. JUL. 2021 IX invested as a magician of flavours and who revealed his ‘tricks’ to us... but, as it should be, only a few, because a true magician never reveals his most secret cards... Let’s take a quick look at the origins. How did you get into this sector and how was Antichi Sapori born? After graduating as an agricultural expert, I needed to work, to generate income. I started working at a restaurant in Castel del Monte, but I soon realised that it was not my path. So, I decided to open an osteria in my small village, Montegrosso, that would offer the cuisine of the past, the traditional dishes. And it was immediately a great success. I had brought back to the plate the ancient flavours - hence the name of the restaurant - wild herbs, vegetables, pulses... After all, back then (the late ‘80s), eating in a restaurant (at least in our area) meant finding tagliatelle with salmon or pennette with vodka on your plate. In the collective imagination, eating in a restaurant in those days meant tasting ‘exotic’ dishes and not what you could usually find at home. However, things were rapidly changing in Puglia: in the area between Barletta, Andria, Corato... there was a flourishing textile and footwear industry, and many new entrepreneurs were going out to lunch with suppliers and customers, so there was a demand to be able to taste traditional cuisine. And so our proposal became a winner! Right from the start you distinguished yourself by creating a restaurant closely related to ‘your’ vegetable garden. Why this choice and how has it evolved over time? Let’s say it was a ‘forced’ choice. As mentioned earlier, our cuisine is based on ‘humble’ dishes made using ingredients closely linked to what the land produces every day. So, it was not possible to have specific suppliers, or to travel 16 km every day to the nearest town (Andria) to buy the goods. My parents are farmers, so I ‘took advantage’ of the opportunity to have a small piece of land next to the restaurant to turn it into a vegetable garden. Of course, at the beginning it was very basic, but over time it has turned into a real ‘didactic garden’ and today there are even schools that come for days dedicated to the ‘land’ and the seasonality of the products. Tell us how the two realities interact... They interact completely. There is no dish that has not been designed to give the land the opportunity to express its biodiversity freely and with respect for seasonality, enhancing it on the plate. The garden therefore ‘rules’ the restaurant. In other words, everything you serve is closely linked not only to seasonality, but also to the everyday nature of what the earth offers... Of course! I like to tell you that in the last few days we have been having a super-production of apricots, so we try to use them in different preparations: from sorbets to piglet stuffed with apricots. And we have a rather bitter weed that we obviously have to remove from the garden, so we tried to make a dish using this wild weed and balancing it with other ingredients. So, the answer is yes, the garden is ‘in charge’ of the restaurant! You therefore have a ‘mobile’ menu... We have a menu that adapts from time to time to what the garden offers us. Ours is a kind of circular economy where nothing is thrown away. It’s a question of ethics: respecting nature, seasonality, creating a balance between taste and consumer demand. Montegrosso is a small village in the Apulian Murgia where the few inhabitants are farmers. Apart from what you make in your garden, are your suppliers the same as your fellow citizens? Ours is a small village where the main activity is cultivation of the land with small-scale production of cheese and a few other local products. I tend to favour the use of what is produced here. A few years ago there was a heavy snowfall so the land couldn’t offer us anything. We decided to close for a few days so that the land could regenerate and offer its delicacies again. Your concept of catering revolves around ethics. Would you like to tell us about this philosophy of yours? Today the concept of ethics is - and must become - central to our work. Ethics means not only respecting nature, but also paying your employees the right amount of money, paying your suppliers on time and correctly... because the quality of a dish - which is even more important today for the success of a business - cannot ignore these parameters. This is where the battle between post-pandemic restaurateurs lies. How important is ethics towards the customer?