Today we interview Matteo Baronetto, Chef who reported the Michelin star to Il Cambio restaurant of Turin. We are pleased to ask him some questions:
1) Nine words to introduce you.
Thoughtful, intuitive, perfectionist, inquisitive, solid, calm, helpful, visionary, shy.
2) What is the episode that started your food passion?
Fortuity. I was fourteen and I wanted a motorcycle. My father told me that I could take it only if I’d bought. He would have to know me better and no doubt on my determination. Instead the vacation I worked in a pizzeria close to home as a waiter. One day the chef broke his leg and the owner asked me to help her in the kitchen. It was clear that I had found my way. I do not enrolled in accounting school like my father wanted, but to catering school. I started working right away in the evening and during the weekend because the only theory was not enough for me, I worked at Betulla restaurant near my home in San Bernardino. One day, a professor advised me to do an internship with Gualtiero Marchesi at Albereta restaurant in Erbusco. I called and they passed me the head chef, his name was Carlo Cracco…
3) Which product among those of Made in Italy do you think is not known enough worldwide?
More than a product, many regional recipes are not know. We are known for pizza and pasta, but Italy could be known for many other things.
4) If you should take a friend out for dinner, who’s coming from abroad and visiting Italy for the first time, which typical dish would you suggest him?
Sunny side eggs with white truffle.
5) What are the three essential Made in Italy products for your kitchen?
Extra virgin olive oil, egg, and sea urchin.
6) Who cooks at your house?
Usually I cook. But only simple and healthy dishes.
7) Which one in your opinion is the biggest stereotype foreigners have about the Italian cuisine or Italian food?
The true stereotype is that people still think about pizza, spaghetti and in general about Mediterranean diet. Otherwise, Italy is rich of recipe and products that each region it could represent an entire nation.
8) Speaking about the “Italian Sounding” phenomenon, what do you think are the solutions to oppose it?
I would say education. Only with the culture of education we can do that, so that future generations are aware of the value of the Italian products. No one in the world can confuse an original product with the counterfeit one if he got to taste it many times and maybe when he was a child. It seems obvious, but we will always needs more to rediscover in our diet the beauty and the good.
