On another memorable day in the Tenth Anniversary celebrations at the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo, in front of Dario Franceschini, the Italian Minister of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism, and about 30 leading Italian and international chefs, the French chef Michel Bras was presented with an honorary degree in the Promotion and Management of Gastronomy and Tourism and the Pollenzo Cookery School was inaugurated.
“The time has come to reconcile academic research with good practices in the kitchen,” declared Carlo Petrini, President of the University of Gastronomic Sciences. “It’s unusual—almost a provocation—to give a degree to a chef and I never imagined we would be teaching cooking in a university like Pollenzo, where gastronomy is a subject for study and research. Yet, partly thanks to the testimonies of the chefs present, here I am today officially recognizing the merit of someone who does an intellectual job with profound respect for the non-human elements of culinary art and consideration for the interaction between cooking and work in the fields, food production and livestock breeding. All of this underpins a new way of gastronomic thinking, concentrated no longer on man but on harmony with plants and animals. This is the lesson Michel Bras has taught us.”
The honorary degree was conferred upon Bras for the way he has created and inspired an interdisciplinary approach to cooking, initiating a cultural movement that has reinvented gastronomy after the excesses of previous decades. A master of local land-rooted cooking, the virtually self-taught Bras has created a gastronomic world of his own, drawing inspiration from his native Aubrac plateau in France and from the lessons of his mother. He is regarded as one of the most important chefs in Europe and in 1999 he received his third Michelin star for his Restaurant Bras near Laguiole.
After thanking Carlo Petrini, dean Piercarlo Grimaldi, and Professor Nicola Perullo for their laudatio, Bras told the students of the University of Pollenzo about his 40 years as a chef: “It is the story of a couple, my wife and I, who believed in our local area in the 1960s, when everyone was emigrating to Paris, when it was considered crazy to use the skin off the milk to make chocolate and redcurrant tartlets, and later in the 1980s when we used the flesh of vegetables to create completely vegetarian menus and make natural juices, and I harnessed cooking techniques to my own imagination. In those days it was necessary to convince suppliers about our ideas, and the simple style of our service left diners venturing into what was then considered a desert open-mouthed.”
A delegation of Italian, French and British chefs — among whom Cristine Bowerman, Carlo Cracco, Enrico Crippa, Vittorio Fusari, Davide Oldani, Davide Palluda, Galdino Zara — were on hand to celebrate the French chef’s degree.
Many chefs of world fame unable to be present at the event also sent personal tributes. They included Ferran Adria, Heinz Beck, the Roca brothers and Antonio Santini, all of whom regard Bras as a maestro.
Dario Franceschini, the Italian Minister of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism, was also present to honor the event: “This university is the symbol of what Italy can become if it meets challenges and has vision, of what I would like to do as a minister. Politics has failed to invest in the enormous potential of our historical heritage, in talent and in creativity. Italy should bank on beauty and culture, on its heritage of local talent, quality and identity. They are the driving force of our tourism, but for visitors from BRIC countries everything turns upside down: one of the main attractions for Chinese visitors is shopping, for Russians it is food and wine. Well, we have all this and more: history, creativity, and material and immaterial culture. Our gastronomic tradition is a heritage that deserves to be protected. And I feel it is part of my Ministry’s job to do that.”
The Pollenzo Cookery School, devised by the University of Gastronomic Sciences in collaboration with Slow Food, offers two Masters in Slow Cooking: one in Cucina Popolare Italiana di Qualità and one in the Slow Art of Italian Cuisine. The two one-year courses will last one year and will be similar in structure and content. The only difference is that the first will be taught in Italian, the second in English. The school will also offer amateur cooking courses for enthusiasts and aspiring cooks and team building sessions for companies, associations and institutions.
Four large companies have helped develop the school: Electrolux Professional whose products include an innovatively designed, easy-to-use, highly performing cooking range; Kenwood, a member of the De’ Longhi Group, famous for its appliances for food preparation and cooking, grinding, blending, crushing and kneading; and Valcucine, which has designed the interiors with an eye to experimentation, sustainability and eco-awareness. Last but not least, Lavazza is awarding two scholarships for the two best students—one on each course—to become the Young Inspiring Chefs of the future.