RIMINI: Massimo Bottura, Italy’s most recognised chef said at the opening of this year’s edition of the Al Meni Food Festival that he wants to take the festival across the Atlantic to New York. “We have been working on this for more than two years and I wouldn’t speak about it if this was not concrete,” he told Food and Wine Gazette.
The Italian chef who created this food festival under the circus tent made so famous by Italian film director Federico Fellini nine years ago is ready to embark on a new project taking a bit of Emilia Romagna to the US.
“To me New York is home away from home. To take the circus to the Central Park or the High Line of New York would be a dream and it is what we have been working for,” he said. “The High Line in New York is the essence of the refettorio of architecture, they have taken an abandoned train line in the meat packing district and turned it into something beautiful. Taking the circus there is a way to plant the future. Artist Joseph Beuys said we should never stop planting. Planting trees, and planting ideas for the future is what we are doing,” the Italian chef of legendary Modena restaurant Osteria Francescana and the head of the Francescana group which today comprises a number of restaurants around the world said.
Speaking about Al Meni which Bottura said that Rimini is showcasing what Emilia Romagna has to offer to the woirld. “There are chefs from all over the world that are interpreting the food here in a Mediterranean style. We start with our team at Casa Maria Luiga and Osteria Francescana who are really showcasing two dishes that are Italian and Mediterranean in their essence.”
He said this year’s edition focused on the Mediterranean because it was a way to encourage people to not only go to Italy but also to be part of it. “We need to break walls not build walls. The new menu at Osteria Francescana is about breaking stereotypes. It is a way of showing Italy as a whole without North, centre or south distinctions,” he said.
This year, chefs at al Meni come from different parts of the Mediterranean from Greece to Turkey, Croatia and Malta.
More about Al Meni in the coming days.
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