Slow food and fast cars: Massimo Bottura and Maserati celebrate a relationship based on a shared passion for the contemporary tinted by the traditional.
Massimo Bottura, the Maserati brand ambassador and renowned three-Michelin-starred chef, joined the first press day of the International Motor show in Modena. During the event, Bottura shared his passion for both food and cars, sharing his inspired culinary delights with a few select customers of Maserati and Zegna. Bottura’s passionate and visionary approach to food complemented the Motor Show perfectly.
A Night of Passions
Bottura’s passions for great food and great cars shone throughout the evening. The chef spent his younger years growing up alongside the charismatic sound of the engine and his grandmother’s kitchen wisdom. The two go hand in hand for Bottura, who delighted spectators with a rice dish both inspired by and named after the SUV Levante. During his career, Bottura has adopted a fresh approach to culinary traditions of both Italy and Modena. Contemporary is the name of the game for the three-Michelin-starred chef. Bottura’s inspired rice dish pays homage Maserati’s SUV Levante. The invigorating recipe brings together citrus infused rice and fresh water fish marinated in fennel and orange, a fresh and contemporary take on the traditional which is mirrored by its namesake.
Childhood Delights
Bottura shared his own childhood nostalgia of cooking and cars at the event, but also mirrored the Motor Show by creating fresh and exciting dishes with more traditional ties. One evocative dish from memory lane was the “Memory of a mortadella sandwich”. Telling the tale of its origins, Bottura explained the historic significance of the dish, as well as his own contemporary take on it. “Can a recipe ever replace a memory?” Massimo Bottura said. “My mother chased me down the street with a mortadella sandwich everyday on my way to school. In honour of her earnest effort to feed me, this memory has been revived with crunchy gnocco and the purest essence of mortadella”.
Two Peas, One Pod: A Shared Vision
The fantastic link between the Maserati brand ambassador’s enticing twists on traditional recipes and Maserati themselves is their shared ideals. Reid Bigland, Maserati CEO, stated that Bottura’s modern takes on dishes never obscured their traditional roots, and Maserati shares this vision.
“Massimo has shown true genius in expressing a modern or even futuristic vision of this tradition in every flavour, without ever betraying its origins. All this is very close to the Maserati tradition of designing, developing and building cars here in Italy that can excite and delight their drivers all over the world” – Reid Bigland.
Bigland went on to comment that it was “a great pleasure to host Maserati and Ermenegildo Zegna customers here in Geneva allowing them to appreciate Massimo’s culinary art”.
Partners since 2015, Maserati and Bottura have continually shared the same passion for the new which always refers to the old. In November, the Modena-based chef received his new Levante, the first SUV in more than 100 years of the brand’s existence. Both share a futuristic vision, be it for food or cars, that looks set to continue their partnership for many years to come.
