LOOKS ON THE FUTURE ... THE CO-EXISTENCE OF APPARENTLY OPPOSITE FOOD TRENDS
I want to tell you a story. After reading it, though I can tell you that it is not, you would think it's a fairy tale... so it can seem grotesque and surreal, but it really happened in my professional experience.
My task was to create a business dinner for which my client, fortunately well in advance, informed me of the multiple dietary needs of his guests.
Preparing a menu, I found quite usual excluing specific foods in order to meet the different needs of the guests but this time I was faced a "bit more" complex situation. I never thought so many possible "diversity" concentrated in a unique culinary event and for so few people.
My client in fact, had no personal specific request, unless saying he was a gourmet, very attentive to fresh food and lover of good wines. ...a "good eater". Certainly give him satisfaction at the table would not be a problem, to be honest I love researching healthy cooking and healthy food; I could buy fresh products at 0 km, whole grains, bread and fresh fish etc., and so I already imagined a nice soufflé with organic vegetables, the farmer's eggs and shepherd's cottage cheese, wholemeal spaghetti of ancient grain. A magnificent fish, fresh, just caught in our wonderful sea, which I could present in a thousand different ways but also raw. Elba's Honey would become part of the ingredients of my dessert, giving it character, definitely combined with our exclusive and wonderful Aleatico Passito d.o.c.g.
But soon I realized that my "culinary fantasies" could not easily materialize in this context, since very different were the expectations of the guests.
One of these was vegetarian. To another guest had benn diagnosed a strong allergy to nickel. A guest was lactose intolerant. At that point, a real sense of disorientation around me because I was informed of the presence of two vegans guests. The last guest, finally, followed by a low calorie diet time, to be precise the "Dukan" ... fortunately in the third stage.
Being able to combine a unique menu, palatable for everyone, was hard, a real challenge, but it was possible.
And in the end my client, since very open-minded person made the event a pleasant moment of exchange of views. Of course, the object of the exchange could only be precisely "the trends in food"; it was a confrontation that gave many surprises.
After this beautiful and difficult but special night, I got confirmation that sharing "the differences" even at the table, increases the knowledge and opens to the understanding of new and unexpected food lifestyles, as well as original culinary scenarios.
I wish I could say that it ended with ............. Tarallucci and wine .... just to say, because ....... not everyone can eat them.
Laura Checchi
