An insight into the chaotic mind of Massimo Bottura

Massimo Bottura is a three Michelin star chef. The Italian owns restaurant Osteria Francescana in Modena and after 20 years he has published a book packed full of his dishes. The Staff Canteen spoke to him about the book, his food philosophy and why understanding the classics is paramount when creating innovative dishes. When I received the book ‘Never Trust a Skinny Italian Chef’ by Massimo Bottura, I was a little unsure about what to expect inside. But as they say, never judge a book by its cover, and so I continued with an open mind. Initially I was mesmerised by the beautiful photography which goes hand in hand with Massimo’s mind blowing explanations of his dishes. The photography was shot by artists Stefano Graziani, who captures the chaos of the kitchen and the chaos in Massimo’s mind in his images and Carlo Benvenuto who creates the serenity in the form of the finished dishes, before you are thrown back into the chaos as you move to the next page. The pages each have a story to tell and it screams nostalgia. But once you begin to read it you realise it is something very different. Massimo was keen to explain this when I met him at the Connaught hotel in London. “Look,” he said animatedly. “Here is the steam, like the fog and the oven is empty ready to start service. These are at the beginning of the book and that is very, very important. Then there are the plates, they are like paintings, still and calm. It’s the creative process captured – not the recipes – and the white plates are the calm just before they disappear forever. “It’s everything but nostalgia!” I was intrigued by the fact that all the recipes are at the back of the book and alongside the dishes are explanations of the creative process. “People say ‘why have you not put the recipe there?’” He says, as he points to one of the pages of the book. “Because the recipes are not important. It’s the creative process which is important. The culture is important. If you just look at the recipe it’s just a shortcut.” Each page is a small taster of what goes on in Massimo’s mind – trust me, after meeting him, it’s a fun place to explore! Like his food, Massimo’s book dares you to look a little closer. It enticingly invites you to explore every page and discover what it really is. In Massimo’s world nothing is as it seems, he’s a real life Willy Wonka – bringing his dreams to life in the form of food. The project took 20 years and the first thing he did when he got his hands on the first copy – he tweeted! “When I look at this book, I never tire of it,” explained Massimo. “To me that means we did a good job. So when I got the first copy we took a picture outside Ostteria Francescana and I put it on twitter.” Inspired by his ‘secret book’ which helped him along the way, he’s only allowed a few images of it to feature as he wants it to remain a secret. He said: “Inspiration can come from everywhere. It can come from listening to music, looking at a painting, reading a book or tasting a great product, even memories. Inspiration is an open door and you can walk in and explore. “You may not know where you are going but after one, two, three steps you learn and you know more. If you see the work from a different point of view, and you don’t lose yourself in nostalgia but keep dreaming you find the solution - the flash in the dark.” He added: “Sometimes it’s a mistake like ‘oops I dropped the lemon tart’ but it usually comes with passion, you can jump into your passion and imagine everything. “As contemporary chefs we ask ourselves ‘what have we done?’ We ask ourselves questions and our answers are our plates and our recipes.” Massimo is a cool customer, he takes his time to savour each word in my questions before giving me a response. We have a perception of how chefs are, often at boiling point – only perfection will do. It’s hard to imagine this man ever getting frustrated or impatient in life or the kitchen. “Frustration if it’s positive is a great thing,” explained Massimo. “It’s like obsession, I’m obsessed with quality, I’m obsessed with perfection but I love imperfection.