Mar. 30 – The 33-year-old from Palma Campania, near Naples, has a spontaneous smile and the typical face of a good guy. But, more importantly, he has a great passion – cooking – and his specialty is steamed eggplant “parmigianina”. Pietro Parisi is a genius of Italian cuisine appreciated in Italy and abroad. He’s worked in France, Switzerland and at the Burj Al Arab in the UAE. For the Campanian chef, cooking is more than just a skill, it’s culture: cooking embodies a relationship with farmers, the chance to meet, discuss, and learn. Since 2005, Parisi – who trained in the same international cuisine of Alain Ducasse and Gualtiero Marchesi – directs his lab-restaurant “Era Ora” (in Palma Campania). Here, Parisi brings together modernity and tradition, re-inventing poor farm-to-fork products, and revisiting materials often considered waste, giving life to a unique experience of flavors and fragrances. Recently, Parisi released his first book “Pietro Parisi. Un cuoco contadino. I volti della terra” (2015, 112 pg., Editore Marotta e Cafiero collana Inpentola) which was presented a few days ago at the Italian Cultural Institute in Valletta. Parisi was there alongside the director of the Salvatore Schirmo Institute and the secretary general of the Comunità Radiotelevisiva Italofona, Loredana Cornero. With this book – full of recipes and embellished by Vittorio Guida’s photographs – Parisi recounts the suggestive stories passed on to him by his grandmother Nanninella and slowly eases into the faces and lives of small local producers in Campania. These are the people that each day are in contact with the earth; they are the opposite of multinationals. For his work and focus on sustainable eating, Parisi was chosen as one of the “ambassadors” of Expo Milano 2015. (red)
