Tag: world

Six Italians at the top of the world guide of "green" restaurants – Italian Cuisine

Six Italians at the top of the world guide of "green" restaurants


Good news from the most important specialized guide in the world: for the "We're Smart Green", our country makes good vegetarian or vegan cuisine. Awarded the Lume di Taglienti as best local, 31 recommendations from one to five radishes for our green restaurants

We have always had the certainty that the greater attention to vegetables by almost all Italian chefs not only met with increasing consensus from the public, but had raised the general level of Italian cuisine. Now the applause also comes from guide We're Smart Green which rewards restaurants in which the creative use of seasonal vegetables prevails, the percentage of fruit and vegetable dishes on the menu, the minimization of waste and in general a strong focus on eco-sustainability. The idea came from the Belgian chef Frank Fol, former owner of the starred restaurant Sire Pynnock and now "green consultant": reviews the places around the world recommended for their approach to garden products. The 2020 edition, recently presented online, has 964 in 43 countries on five continents. And Italy made a big leap forward in the ranking. There are six clubs who captured five radishes – the top – and another 25 were ranked one to four.

Piazza Duomo in fourth place

There is a fact that is particularly pleasing. In the list there are historical or trendy names of our cuisine, but also lesser-known places, in the province or managed by enthusiasts who are not part of the "good circuit". In the top ten there are obviously Piazza Duomo in Alba led by Enrico Crippa (Green Award in the 2019 edition and fourth overall) e Joia (which in 2018 had won the Best Veggie Restaurant Award and tenth) by maestro Pietro Leemann in Milan. But also two other Italian candidates for the awards (The Madernassa in Guarene with the young Michelangelo Mammoliti to lead the kitchen, and the Montali Country House in Tavernelle di Panicale, in the province of Perugia). «Although they have not won, they perfectly reflect the philosophy Think vegetables! Think fruits! of the We're Smart Awards ", explained Franck Pol. Also awarded Luigi Taglienti, who received the recognition Best Vegetable Restaurant of Country together with twelve other illustrious colleagues, selected for as many countries. Too bad that his local, Lume in Milan, has not yet reopened its doors. The last "five radishes" is the very classic Arnolfo in Colle Val d’Elsa, led by Gaetano Trova, in 21st position.

All radishes

Here are the other winners. With four radishes: Il Margutta (Rome), St. Hubertus (San Cassiano, Bz), Krèsios (Telese Terme, Bn), La Montecchia (Selvazzano Dentro, Pd), Villa Feltrinelli (Gargnano, Bs). With three radishes: Avignonesi Le Capezzine (Valiano di Montepulciano, Si), Le Calandre (Sarmeola di Rubano, Pd), Exki Italy (it is a chain), I Portici (Bologna), Accursio (Modica, Rg). With two radishes: Osteria Le Logge (Siena), Osteria Perillà (Rocca d'Orcia, Si), Sadler Restaurant (Milan), Taverna Vesuviana (Nola, Na), Villa Crespi (Orta San Giulio, No), Chi Burdlaz Garden (Rimini), From Gorini (San Piero in Bagno, Fc), The National (Vernante, Cn), The Poor Devil (Poggio Torriana, Rn), The Vegetarian (Florence), Magnolia (Cesenatico, Rn). With a radish: La Grotta (Montepulciano, Si), Osteria La Porta (Monticchiello di Pienza, Si), Seta del Mandarin Oriental (Milan), Al Fornello da Ricci (Ceglie, BR).

# 1 is in Luxembourg

Finally, also mark the three best green restaurants on the planet, according to the guide: the Luxembourgish The Distillerie of the patron Rene Mathieu ("A pioneer of natural cuisine who knows how to tastefully evoke the ingredients of the fields and woods around Château Bourglinster", the motivation of the guide), the Belgian Vrjmoed in Gent with chef Michaël Vrijmoed and the Dutch Bord'eau in Amsterdam, led by Bas van Kranen.

Conciato Romano: the oldest cheese in the world – Italian Cuisine

Conciato Romano: the oldest cheese in the world


An ancient cheese, indeed the oldest, produced since Roman times. Strong, penetrating, aged in terracotta amphorae and seasoned with oil and vinegar. A Slowfood Presidium from the province of Caserta to try, sparingly as is done with truffles

Conciato Romano is not among the oldest cheeses in the world; Conciato Romano is the oldest cheese in the world. Mentioned by Pliny as by Martial, it has been produced in the upper Caserta area since the time of the Samnites, but nowadays it is not a cheese for everyone, since we are no longer used to smells and flavors like this strong. In fact, for value and intensity, we could venture to define it "the white truffle of the south": it takes very little to give a unique touch to dishes as well as to pizzas, since there are infinite ones based on Conciato (we are still in Campania ). It was also the first Slow Food Presidium of the province of Caserta, in 2002; an important milestone for an area too often known for other reasons. And its history today is intertwined with that of people who no one has helped, if not their fatigue; people who have fought and who still fight, with their heads held high and their backs straight, without ever bending over.

The Roman Tanning

It owes its name to the original tanning technique, or the fact that in the past the cheese was cunzato, that is, seasoned with oil and vinegar and then placed in amphorae to be transported together with Falerno, the wine of ancient Campania. The addition of "Roman", on the other hand, is due to the discovery of Roman deposits on site, which only took place later. Today it is produced from sheep, goat or bovine milk, with kid rennet; after pressing by hand, the small wheels are salted, dried in the beech farmhouse and then tanned in this way: they are washed with the cooking water of pettole, a fresh pasta shape which, being a natural antibacterial, allows the subsequent absorption of the sauce. In fact, later, the forms are precisely tanned, that is, seasoned with extra virgin olive oil (preferably of the local variety), local wine, the ancient Casavecchia grape and chilli, thyme and oregano because those were there and still are in the mountains. Finally, its destiny is to mature for a long time, at least 6 months, both in glass demijohns and in amphorae, so that it can absorb all those smells that it will release so intensely when it comes out. An unforgettable moment every time, as if all those years of history came out of that amphora with each seasoning. This, at least, is the Tannery of the La Campestre farmhouse, the only one to ensure one traceability total on their product: "I always hope they come and check here, so they see how we work"Liliana Lombardi.

The La Campestre farmhouse

Liliana Lombardi, between the two women today at the reins of the Agriturismo La Campestre in Castel di Sasso, wanted to keep the sheep and over time managed to convince her husband, Francesco, who had already grown up with the sheep. Of their two children Manuel, the oldest, has always had clear ideas about his IT future; while Fabio, the younger brother, has always preferred the earth to books; that same land that first gave it life and then took it away, one day like any other, on a tractor. It is after this tragedy that Manuel and his wife Eulalia have no doubts and decide to join their parents with the same sang 'and soul of his brother to carry on his dream: to make the Roman tanning known in the world, practice clean agriculture and restore dignity to the work of the farmer, especially in an area like Caserta. Today La Campestre, from the name of the locality, also has rooms and a restaurant (the Conciato museum is coming soon), where only dishes based on their products are served. Alternatively, there is no shortage of restaurateurs who from Caserta to Los Angeles get their supplies from the Lombards, such as Rosanna Marziale, Among the first customers for years now, or Maria Rosaria Stellato, who has just opened his restaurant.

Where to eat the Roman Conciato

The grit and exuberance of a hurricane in life, the delicacy and precision of a surgeon in the kitchen: this is Maria Rosaria Stellato from the restaurant My soul of Caserta, opened just last July 2017. Here the soul is first of all what she puts into it, class of '87, always well anchored to her land and its products, including first of all the Roman Conciato de La Campestre , in the 12-month menu on 12. We find it in dishes such as grilled octopus with papaccella and potatoes, where the Conciato enhances everything, while the result is different in the burnt wheat ravioli with garlic, oil and chilli on pumpkin cream, not to mention theClock of flavors: it's his cheese tasting, where the Roman Conciato is paired with a dark chocolate. Exactly its two souls. Exactly the two souls of this land.

Incoming search terms:

Small world is served … is on sale & Pepe newsstands in October – Italian Cuisine

Small world is served ... is on sale & Pepe newsstands in October


Brescello, February 2020. I came to this village in the lower Reggio area for work, but when I crossed Piazza Matteotti I realized that I had entered another world, the "small" one, described by Giovannino Guareschi, writer, journalist and designer from whose imagination the characters of Don Camillo and Peppone: "This is the Bassa (…) and in Piacenza also the small world of my stories begins, which small world is located in that slice of plain between the Po and the Apennines". A long story, that of Guareschi, through post-war rural Italy, developed in 346 episodes published mostly on "White"(humorous-satirical magazine that he founded with Giovanni Mosca in 1946, publisher Rizzoli who later also became a producer of the films). The narration of a laborious peasant environment, made up of human solidarity and strong passions, accompanied by a landscape marked by the river and from the plain.

And here Peppone and Don Camillo come to life ("who created them is the Bassa. I met them, I took them by the arm and made them walk up and down the alphabet.") Who for all have the faces of the two actors who played them: “Gino Cervi corresponds exactly to my Peppone, Fernadel has not the slightest resemblance to my Don Camillo. But he is so good that he blew the place for my praeton. So now when I venture into some new Don Camillo story, I find myself in serious difficulty because I have to have a priest who has the face of Fernadel work ”.

Those who cross Brescello cannot do without feel on the set of the five films that were shot here between '51 and '65. There is still the Casa del Popolo with the inscription clearly visible, there is the house where Peppone overlooked, under the arcades of via Giglioli there is the recently restored Sputnik bell. But it is crossing the square that you can see the two bronze statues dedicated to the two protagonists and respectively placed one near the seat of the Common and the other to the church, where the wooden crucifix to which Don Camillo was addressing is kept inside.

In Small world of course we ate, meals were frugal: bread, cheese, cold cuts obtained from pigs, a soup with lard, an onion omelette, fried cake, fresh pasta, stuffed or not, homemade. Occasionally a few backyard chickens. All washed down with a glass of Lambrusco. Goodness that can still be eaten today in the many trattorias in the area in a small journey that from Roncole Verdi leads to Busseto, Zibello, Roccabianca, Fontanelle, Soragna, San Secondo, Colorno and finally Brescello. Here the museum awaits you Peppone and Don Camillo and the B museumrescello and Guareschi, the territory and the cinema. Nearby is Don Camillo's restaurant La Bottega del Paese, where I ate, which he has bought in the course of time the photos of the filming of the films completely wallpapering the walls. For a dip in the food of the Small world and Italian cinema of the 1950s.

Laura Maragliano
on Sale & Pepe of October 2020

Proudly powered by WordPress

By continuing to use the site, you agree to the use of cookies. Click here to read more information about data collection for ads personalisation

The cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible. If you continue to use this website without changing your cookie settings or you click "Accept" below then you are consenting to this.

Read more about data collection for ads personalisation our in our Cookies Policy page

Close