Class Conscious

By Patricia Dailey, Editor-in-Chief -- Restaurants & Institutions, 12/1/2003

With the rapt and somewhat awed attention of a deeply inquisitive audience numbering in the hundreds, Massimo Bottura, chef-owner of Osteria la Francescana in Modena, Italy, used mortadella and prosciutto as core ingredients in a dish quite apart from those that Emilia-Romagnian cuisine traditionally embraces for its local ingredients. With blender, sieve, spatulas and the odd alchemy of a carbon dioxide-charged foam dispenser, Bottura whipped up a mind-bending take on cannelloncini—little cannelloni.

Rather than delicate pasta sheets, the usual starting point for cannelloni, his version used wrappers of rich prosciutto broth that, with the help of agar-agar, had been softly gelled into thin, glassy sheets. Replacing the meaty fillings typically tucked inside was a purée of mortadella that had become diaphanously light, airy and delicate, thanks to the foamer, a current favorite culinary toy of creative chefs around the globe. A demitasse of cappuccino, made not of coffee but capon broth, potatoes and leeks, sat alongside.

The session’s moderator described the technique, the vision and the dish as shockingly new, futuristic, evolved and avant-garde, but for this particular audience—a roomful of corporate R&D chefs, independent operators and food manufacturers—it was exactly the kind of stimulation that they had trekked to St. Helena, Calif., to immerse themselves in and learn from. It took place at The Culinary Institute of America’s Worlds of Flavors Conference, an annual event that explores how global influences change American cuisine.

Whether or not those who witnessed Bottura’s decidedly outré approach to pasta ever will duplicate it matters little. What did register was the eager openness with which attendees absorbed his presentation, assimilating and repackaging it in their minds until it took on the right level of relevance for their professional needs and goals.

At its very best, learning is an endless and ongoing odyssey. But that very basic notion tends to get lost amid the formulaic structure of an educational system that concludes with diplomas and the sense that commencement exercises are the end of books and study, the beginning of careers.

Though cloaked with a whiff of cliché, it is essential that education be thought of and pursued as a lifetime commitment, a process of growth, learning and discovery that never diminishes or reaches a set stopping point. Whether the product of classroom or mentor, conference, exchange or experience, the process of learning always reveals ideas, opportunities and possibilities as it conveys newly gained knowledge.

The foodservice industry is generously endowed with formal and informal channels for enrichment, learning, growth and development. For professionals who take seriously their jobs and their commitment to excellence, pursuing educational opportunities that are most appropriate to careers and lives and actively participating in them is best viewed not just as an opportunity, but as an obligation.