Massimo Bottura – made famous by Chef’s Table – blends art and food
The world's number one chef incorporates the artworks he loves into his Italian creations
Massimo Bottura has just served a dish titled "Beautiful Psychedelic Veal, Not Flame-Grilled", inspired by the Damien Hirst psychedelic spin painting.
The ash encrusted "veal" - actually beef marinated in milk - is plated with vibrant blotches of colourful sauces, including arugula, beetroot, orange and red wine-reduced veal jus. Food or art, you ask?
Welcome to Osteria Francescana in the medieval town of Modena, Italy, the newly crowned No 1 restaurant on the World's 50 Best Restaurants 2016 list where time-honoured Italian recipes are given an avant-garde facelift and artful courses from the tasting menus are named à la contemporary art placards - think "Memories of a Mortadella Sandwich" or "An Eel Swims Up the Po River".
"After 21 years of struggle, we are finally able to show the world that the Italian kitchen can evolve and become even more than what people expect," says Bottura, teeming with national pride. "Recognition came slowly but it's a blessing in disguise because it gave us time to grow," adds Bottura, whose restaurant has held on to three Michelin stars since 2011. "All the hard work, the sacrifices, the hours I didn't spend with my family and friends, but in a hot kitchen, they were worth it."
While hard work may be the key to his success, the chef concedes to the role of art in "opening my eyes to a remarkable new world". An avid music and art lover, Bottura's restaurant in the cobblestone-paved Modena is home to works by world class contemporary artists such as Joseph Beuys, Maurizio Cattelan, Gavin Turk, Michelangelo Pistoletto and Ceal Floyer.
"When you are in the kitchen chopping onions and peeling potatoes, it is easy to lose yourself in the everyday obligation," says the lauded Italian chef, who sports a greying short-boxed beard. "Art reminds you to keep a small window open for everyday poetry and when that happens, the most mundane object turns to gold.
"A lemon tart drops and you realise that that is the next recipe," says Bottura, who presented his "Oops I Dropped the Lemon Tart" dessert during his sold-out dinner at the Jockey Club in 2015. "You are listening to a Thelonious Monk album, you catch a flash in the dark and you create a black on black dish that expresses the darkness in your soul," the bespectacled chef elaborates.
At Osteria Francescana, he is serving a dish called "Almost Better than Beluga", where pearls of black lentil arrive in a caviar tin layered over dill-flavoured sour cream. "This dish references the René Magritte picture of a pipe titled . It's about bringing value back to pulses and re-thinking what fine dining really means," Bottura explains. "When we start switching beans for caviar, we are also playing with Arte Povera, the Italian 1960s art movement that used humble materials to explore the intrinsic value of objects."