Michelin-starred Chef Rossi
Conscious cooking
Alessandro Rossi, born in 1993, executive chef at the Gabbiano 3.0 restaurant in Marina di Grosseto. A gastronomic restaurant freshly awarded a Michelin Star: the first star arrived on 25 November 2020. Chef Rossi, originally from Tuscany, has embarked on a path linked to the values of sustainability and an increasingly real-km product in the name of raw materials that are always fresh, local and genuine. We interviewed him for SAPORE DEL SAPERE….
Hi chef, what does ‘conscious cooking’ mean to you?
CONSCIOUS COOKING for me means knowing “right down to the last detail” what we are going to use to make our dishes; where the raw material comes from; what are the growth paths; what are the processing paths and what are the most suitable for you once you arrive at the restaurant in order to serve it with its most authentic taste possible. On the true taste of the raw material, especially vegetable, I am creating my current path. All this, if produced by us, in-house, is even better!
How important is it to bring fresh, seasonal produce to the table?
For seasonal products I think I have already answered the previous question. How could true and authentic taste exist if not at a time when that product is in season? Otherwise you risk having tastes distorted by the desire to appear as something you are not. I see the out-of-season product as a quirk on the part of those who only think of cashing in without thinking of anything else…
The year 2021 has been designated by the UN as ‘The Year of Fruit and Vegetables’. What do you think?
A great choice on the part of the UN. Perhaps there is a growing awareness and sensibility that if we don’t start respecting nature, she won’t respect us. For me, for some time now, every year is fruit and vegetable year, but it’s not just us workers in the sector who need to understand this; it’s also the end consumer who may not care what fruit or vegetable we put on our plate or what route it took to get there.
Do you have any plant species that you are particularly attached to and like to use in your cooking?
The plant species to which I am most attached is tomatoes. A product to which I was allergic for a period of my life but fortunately I was able to return to enjoying it as I did as a child. A lot has happened since then. Now I expect to have, as soon as possible, more than 100 varieties of tomatoes in our vegetable garden that we are creating in the Grosseto countryside a few kilometres from the restaurant. Certainly the tomato I am most fond of is the ‘pink peach’.
What do you think about ‘natural drinks’?
Natural drink. An excellent product if made according to all the criteria mentioned above. Awareness of the product’s journey, processing, seasonality…
