With a farm where he grows his own vegetables, as well as having a seedbed and also producing oil and wine, the chef reminded us of the importance of sustainability in all processes of cooking, and in life.

Maintaining tradition, thinking about the balance of the terroir, being responsible and lavishing attention on the land: short messages that Carlo Cracco (Cracco*, Milan, Italy) launched at Gastronomika, in an acquired commitment that the chef has put into practice by purchasing a farm where he shortly aims to grow, with permaculture, up to 400 different types of fruit and vegetables. “I don’t grow quantity but quality”, he said.

The chef, famous for the use of truffles in his dishes, that now “I only use if they are picked directly from the ground”, cooked a vignarola, “a dish that shows everything that the land provides in fruit and vegetables on one day or on specific days”. This was the idea: respect and getting the most out of things, messages that the Italian has delved into during this crisis. He really believes in these, and puts them into practice in and out of the kitchen, for example by recycling organic waste from cooking and using this to make the paper that the restaurant menus are printed on.

“This is a contemporary need for society and restaurants. We must deepen our direct contact with nature”, a chef who has shown his current liking for working with vegetables, repeated, “although our cooking is open to any produce that are of value, that are respectful. I’m not against meat, but I wouldn’t use it without knowing that it has been raised using sustainable methods”, he explained.

A pupil of the mythical chef, Gualtiero Marchesi, and a maestro for so many, Cracco took his leave by warning that the future of gastronomy “will have nothing to do with what we know now, but it will have to do  -he stressed- with responsibility”.