#18 Food for the mind

Mathieu Viannay offers creative, refined food that is always in season, so the menu changes from time to time. In this temple of creativity, the restaurant’s decidedly modern décor reflects the original cooking (traditional interior with bare stone and furnished in a contemporary style). An up and coming eaterie with prices that are still afford...

RECCOMENDED DISHES: Entrées: CRUSHED POTATOES, BROKEN EGGS AND “VEGETABLE COAL” dressed with a “garlic protein”. Fish: COD STEAK covered with tapioca pearls cooked “at the bottom of the cider barrel”. “Accents” of saffron, rosemary, thyme, mint and a blend of spices. Meat: ROAST ESCALOPE OF FOIE GRAS with legume and yeast b...

What is the role of culture in redeveloping a city? We are also talking about future challenges for a city like Rome, in competition with the world’s major capital cities. For a city such as Rome, culture is fundamental, as it is for the whole country. This is not just because of what it has represented, worldwide, for centuries, but because of ...

Culture is a word that comes from the farming world, and originally just meant “cultivation”. However, the oldest Indo-European root means “take action, get going, live”. It was only during the 17th century that the Italian word “cultura” began, perhaps thanks to the influence of religious worship, to mean the world of arts, letters and...

For the first time, illycaffè is a partner of the 10th International Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Biennale, continuing the relationship which began at the previous editions of Biennale Art in 1997, 2003 and 2005. Against this background of cultural enjoyment we talked to Chairman Davide Croff on the theme of “food for thought”. Ha...

Can you give us your definition of “culture”? Culture includes all the arts, dance, music, songs, language etc. It is the stew in which we are pickled. This, marinated over time, gives each locale its different flavour. Culture is what shapes ones personality and ones interaction with the world. What part had culture in your formation? Si...

The 10th International Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Biennale, directed by architect and town planner Richard Burdett*, focuses on the theme of Cities: migration, growth, mobility and sustainable development. As part of the exhibition at the Corderie dell’Arsenale, architect Aldo Cibic will be interpreting the concept of density. Here, il...

illycaffè and the Mantua-based Festivaletteratura have been partnering for five years now. The “Young Writers” event is especially promoted by illy to afford budding writers the opportunity of meeting the public at an unusual venue, such as the bar. The illystories collection, which publishes the individual stories of the participants in the �...

I met the suggestion that I write something up on the topic of “food for the mind” with enthusiasm. Not only do I find it stimulating, but it’s also very topical. Our physiological needs, as Maslow calls them, including self-security, a sense of communal belonging and esteem, have been fairly much appeased in the West; we’ve peaked his famo...

The history of the “Muthesius Academy” in Kiel, Northern Germany, goes back to the beginning of the 20th century: the school’s course concept is based on the ideas of the “German Werkbund”, an organization that was founded in 1907 by a group of artists, architects, writers and industrials and that promoted the idea of combining traditiona...

Solomeo is a quiet village set deep in the peaceful Umbrian countryside straight out of the Middle Ages. Since 1978 it’s been home to Brunello Cucinelli’s business firm. His coloured cachemire knits and garments have become world famous, but his business philosophy is no less renowned. It’s all about making ethics work alongside capitalism...

If it is true, as Ariane Batterberry, director of “Food Arts”, says that «food is the art of the twenty-first century», then why not approach haute cuisine as you would study art or literature? We are starting to do this in a double interview with Mathieu Viannay and Andoni Luis Aduriz. From Lyon to San Sebastián, two young chefs, who are a...