"A JOURNEY WITHIN A JOURNEY TO DISCOVER OURSELVES."
MAX REVOLUTIONIZES PASTA BY USING THE WHOLE EGG.
AN EXPLORATION OF THE SENSE OF HEARING, WITH A FOCUS ON CRUNCHINESS, WHICH TAKES US ON AN INNER JOURNEY. THIS JOURNEY RECONNECTS US TO THE EMOTIONS AND SENSATIONS EXPERIENCED DURING WEANING—THE EARLIEST AWAKENING OF SENSORY AWARENESS.
WHAT IS SUONO N'UOVO?
It’s a dish that you find on the menu at Le Calandre, but first and foremost, it’s a journey, an immersion in the essence of ingredients.
At its heart is the egg—a symbol of perfection and wholeness, a fundamental and symbolic ingredient in cooking. Recipe instructions often call for it ‘whole,’ and this sparked Max's curiosity: with or without the shell?
So he experimented with preparing a dough made with the egg in its entirety, shell included. The shell is stripped of the inner membrane and sanitized, then ground into a rough powder. The fresh ‘whole egg’ pasta is cut into tagliatelle, then smoked and served with butter, celeriac extract and a Castelmagno cheese fondue. To finish, its sprinkled with aromatic herbs and served with a double chicken broth. Obedience in disobedience, the beginning of a true journey, offering an entirely new tasting experience.
THE JOURNEY
However, if you delve into a deeper sensory level, focusing on sound and perception, a completely new dimension unfolds, where every rule is turned upside down. With eyes closed, attention shifts, and the tasting experience becomes internalized, revealing how flavor serves as a vehicle to explore more intimate and personal emotions
From a strictly taste-based perspective, the experience may feel unusual. A traditional preparation like pasta is altered in its texture by the presence of tiny, crunchy fragments of eggshell that seem out of place. However, if you delve into a deeper sensory level, focusing on sound and perception, a completely new dimension unfolds, where norms are turned upside down.
By eating with your eyes closed and ears plugged, your attention shifts and chewing food becomes an inner experience, showing how flavor can be a gateway to exploring more personal and intimate emotions.
THE RESEARCH
Building upon Max’s research into 'first taste', or mother’s milk, and its connection to lacto-tactile sensations, he turned his attention to the exploration of crunch, exploring the subtle, uncharted motivations linked to this stage of human development.
Our love of crunchy foods seem to be connected to when, as a child, we first became aware of sensory perception, recording impressions that connect to emotions and feelings that resurface in adulthood whenever these experiences are revisited. He refers to this as ‘second taste.’
