L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, APRIL 6, 2017 www.italoamericano.org 24 L'Italo-Americano I t goes without saying that good eating is the one thing most Italians would never be w i l l i n g t o c o m p r o m i s e o n . Countless Hollywood reenact- ments of banquet-like family meals have helped reinforce the collective image we've longed t o e s t a b l i s h o f o u r s e l v e s a s being (arguably) the highest authority on good and proper eating the world over. It further goes without saying that you simply cannot have good eating without it being coupled with great drinking. This might sound like some- thing of a Carrollesque applica- tion of logic, or a reverse catch- 22, but back home we take this very seriously and abide by it dutifully. These values and tra- ditions are impressed onto the younger generations with unre- lenting method; they are made to permeate all aspects of Italian life. Anyone who has grown up in Italy will have heard some- body's grandparents (most like- l y t h e i r o w n ) t e l l t h e m t h a t " l ' a c q u a f a m a l e , i l v i n o f a cantare" (water is bad for you, wine makes you sing)! This bona-fide national pas- sion we have for eating repre- sents an inseparable component of our Italian-hood. For this rea- son, all enthusiasts of genuine Italian cuisine in Los Angeles should rejoice upon receiving t h e l o n g - a w a i t e d n e w s t h a t Eataly will be opening one of its gargantuan culinary paradises in L o s A n g e l e s . W e ' r e t a l k i n g about a virtually interminable marketplace, sided with fine- dining restaurants, drink coun- ters, bakeries, retail items, a baking school and much more! All this, operating under the same roof and in accordance with the same philosophy: "the pursuit of high-quality sustain- able Italian cuisine". That is how Alex Peirano summarizes Eataly's Slow Food approach and mission. Alex has worked as Italian Wine Specialist and Educator at both Eataly New York and Chicago, teaching c o n s u m e r s o f I t a l i a n g o o d s about product origin, develop- ment, and cultural relevance. He tells us that "ten or fifteen years ago this concept that Eataly now embodies was basically a utopia in the United States. Nobody knew about robiola, or agnolotti del Plin or about the piadina Romagnola… Now, thanks to Eataly and the visionaries in charge of its development, peo- ple know!" We were also able to get in t o u c h w i t h D i n o B o r r i f r o m Eataly, who was kind enough to share some of his invaluable insight as to the Eataly USA phenomenon. Upon asking for his official title within the cor- poration he deflects by saying: "Ma sí, it's just Dino Borri from Eataly! We're sort of against formal titles". N o t w i t h s t a n d i n g p o s i t i o n titles (or lack thereof), Dino Borri is a significant driving force behind the growth and success of Eataly in the US. Later on in our conversation he classifies himself as "buying director, if that's what you want to call it", still reluctant to cur- tail his multifaceted, and often creative role within the bound- aries of such a dry, dull, bi- dimensional title. D i n o w a s b o r n i n B r a , a s m a l l I t a l i a n t o w n i n t h e province of Cuneo, Piedmont, where founder of the Slow Food grassroots organization Carlo Petrini was also born. The latter w a s a m e n t o r t o D i n o , w h o w o r k e d t o g e t h e r w i t h S l o w F o o d f o r c l o s e t o t e n y e a r s . During this time Dino learned all about the "Slow Food philos- ophy, and the philosophy of 'good, clean, and fair'". To this extent, he specifies this does not always mean hav- i n g t o c o n s i d e r e x c l u s i v e l y whether a producer is certified as 'organic' or not. "There are many small farmers and produc- e r s t h a t a r e n o t c e r t i f i e d a s 'organic' because of their size or because of other reasons. Nonetheless a lot of them still produce in an excellent man- ner". Dino goes on to talk about the 'fairness' component of the three-step recipe, as he very candidly enunciates his under- standing of "fair" in this context to mean "that every step of the production chain must be fair: producers must be paid in fair m e a s u r e , t h e s a m e w a y Producers' employees will have to be paid fairly, and the same way prime ingredients must not be underpaid. We supervise the e n t i r e p r o d u c t i o n c h a i n t o ensure strict compliance with Slow Food standards". So what can we expect from the future Westfield Century City Eataly location? For one, we can expect the aforemen- tioned standards of culinary excellence to be within our very own reaching distance. This is a big component of the Eataly experience according to Dino, who attributes part of the amaz- ing success in New York to the fact that they "placed goods in a context that democratized them, meaning they were made acces- sible to all". " T h e w o r l d i s g r a d u a l l y moving towards consumption of higher quality products in this COSIMO ROSSOTTO A Little "Eataly" in Los Angeles industry. We see people shifting towards eating less but eating better. This is essentially what we want to do, educate the con- sumer so they can understand and appreciate the difference between quality goods and those that are not". The theme of edu- cating the consumer is one of the most recurrent elements of the Eataly business model. H e m o v e s o n t o s a y t h a t "from a gastro-alimentary view- point, California might just be the US state with the 'slow' phi- losophy most similar to what we embody, so I think the territory will match perfectly with what we do". Furthermore, every US Eataly location relies for the most part on local producers partnering with the Italian giant. Dino is hopeful that outstand- ing agricultural conditions in California will allow for the Los Angeles location to draw its entire fresh goods production from local farmers. This should result in directly increased fresh p r o d u c t o f f e r i n g a t o u r L o s Angeles Eataly store It is abundantly clear that Dino takes pride in the fact that "Eataly is now more than a for- mat, Eataly is a concept". Not only that, but the social impact on its surrounding areas is con- sistently palpable. "Wherever we open a store we generate value, we create jobs, we create traffic… We become a destina- tion!". With up to 700 individu- als employed in each location, it's not difficult to imagine the kind of industry jump-start a new Eataly location gives way to. Incredibly, Eataly stands for even more. As Dino would have it, Eataly has become a sort of "embassy of taste. But that's not all because food is culture, food is history, and food is philoso- phy. In Boston, Chicago, and New York, we've become 'labs' for a whole universe of cultural events gravitating around Italy and being Italian; from music, to art, to fundamentally anything that represents us at our finest within and without the Italian peninsula". To wrap things up I ask Dino what part of setting up Eataly in a new city personally excites h i m t h e m o s t , t o w h i c h h e responds that due to his curious nature he treasures the idea of "playing around" by juxtaposing t h e e x t r e m e l y h i g h q u a l i t y California produce with long- standing Italian tradition, so as to provide his customers with a truly unique eating and shopping experience. The result will be s o m e t h i n g t o b e h o l d . M o r e i m p o r t a n t l y h o w e v e r , h e i s excited to learn about the people that will be producing the food, "because at the end of the day" he says "human relations are the most important thing." After Boston, Chicago and New York, Eataly will be opening one of its gargantuan culinary paradises in Los Angeles LOS ANGELES ITALIAN COMMUNITY Dino Burri

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