MAY IS FOOD REVOLUTION AND IS A TRIBUTE TO REAL COOKING!

SIMPLY GRAZIE, to all the “Real Makers” of  Amsterdam, the Food Revolution Day May the 20th 2016! 
And to all ​my family, friends , dear friends, pupils, occasional, improvised, experts, passionate and skeptics, the ones that were joining my classes just for once and the habitués that are following me since 3 years, the jealous ones and the true ones, the ones that were supporting me all along these years and the one that made me grow with critics and supportive discussions, the ones that are not anymore in this world and believed in things to happen, my cooking friends and Chefs I met, the new ones entering my world and accompanying for sometimes along this incredible cooking dream path , special path.

To al the Ambassadors, all over the world, to all my Youth of the Y4PT Foundation, sharing with me more than just a passion for a sustainable world, to the ones that have changed their path in life embracing another one and following me on this reality of the cooking life.

Is not a matter of a story to tell you, is a matter of emotions to be shared with you all: emotions that many people in this world are missing. Missing because they do not had yet the chance to have a supporter, be it a family member, a friend or a real mentor accompanying them through life.

Emotions that are a part of our human deep essence , our real reality  not the one that some puppeteers  all over the world, especially through the Media and Social Media world are willing us to see and live. Here is a matter of real lives, lived by real people, gentleness and kindness, generosity and pure hearted people.

People that have chosen to dedicate their lives to something that have a deep inner value, although media all over the world are willing now to make it instrumental: and damn, they seems to be good on that since some years!

Have you ever been asking yourselves why cooking shows are having such a big success nowadays? Because they are giving to a large audience, something that they have always dreamed of : the glamorous Hollywood patina; they are making the Hollywood world of television and movies, live in your kitchen. They tell people this story:  you can do it, you can be a star too in your kitchen!

But what they are missing when they present us those shows ( that , in any case, for the serious Professionals of the sector is an evidence, are a fake because of many reasons…)  is the true spiritual and human connection and rewarding that is creating among people that cook. 
They show instead Competitions: our world nowadays is a competition based one: you should always be better of somebody else, in every field; and competitions in the kitchen are becoming more and more tougher, louder, faster, to create a form of anxiety and dependence on the spectator.

Have you ever felt tired after watching some of these Cooking Competitions in the TV shows? Well, I did…and,  as an aftermath, I was thinking that, no, this is not the real world of the Kitchen.

For sure, if we take the example of Professionals, whether they are Caterers, Michelin Starred Chefs , Cooks and Commis in Restaurants , yes they live under pressure, they use their bodies, they run fast in their minds and actions connecting all the moments of which a dish is composed, they are tired and they live dangerously on the edge of physical usury. But, their passion is there: perhaps hidden under tons of work and routines.

The real Chefs are the ones that are not on the TV shows, or at least, not all. The real Chefs with a big C, are the ones that everyday wake up after a previous day of fatigue to serve a Community .The ones that do not talk and, just cook. The ones which thoughts you’ll never see and hear because they are too discrete and simple (some will say naives) or shy to be feeling to go on air or on an interview. The ones that chose their profession because it was the only chance they had doing something that they were acknowledged in their countries. The ones that by chance, you meet in a nice touristic trip in a restaurant and you are talking with.  The ones that you discover as real human being and you do not see as machines. The ones that are telling you, if you have the occasion, about how good that broth they prepared was and their eyes are shining.

Well, these people, they put Love, with a big L in what they do: sometimes this big L is hidden under tons of pressure, under big bosses that are crushing their bodies and spirits, by obligatory routines that are making them forgetting about when and why they started cooking.  Some of them are frustrated, they know they cook better of others but they cannot make in the System.

To all these people we should owe our real clap and hat off: because thanks to them we access the marvelous and rich world of flavors, emotions, memories, colors, textures, simplicity and complication that is the real kitchen. A world reminding us of our childhood, parents and grandparents, a world making us feeling Human and united. There is no color, no race, no age, no fears of division, when we cook and are together in a kitchen, where the goal is to teach, serve, and help a community.

Well, friends, yesterday in Amsterdam I had all these: I was so happy, emotional, driven by pure adrenalin and bliss, to be part of that day, you can call me a stupid or a naïve, up to you, but moments like those are rewarding you of every sacrifice you make to be part of.

I would love to really send positive vibes and my heartfelt thanks to Terri, Lindsey, Edwin, Damien, Thomas, FongYee, Ramon  and so many other that I cannot remember the names, telling me their stories and how they started, their will to help and change this world of ours for the good through food and kitchens. You know, you were so really driven by passion and enthusiasm that the emotional rewarding was tangible in the air. The moment we shared outside, when everything was over, this image of you all in a circle, reminded me of the Knights of the Round Table.

 You know, you are the real makers of the world: I see this every day since I created my group around the world. So many small and big things are happening through real people. So many real things can happen, driven by the force of real people, so real that they can subvert the artificial balance is created by decision makers.

I’d love to bring you the words of a famous Documentarian, Albert Maysles and end this long letter:  let’s all continue to be real and let’s revert the world to give back to the new generations the world as it was before this madness.

Happy days ahead to you all and hope to see you soon somewhere in the world again to cook with you!

Gaia
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“As a documentarian I happily place my fate and faith in reality. It is my caretaker, the provider of subjects, themes, experiences—all endowed with the power of truth and the romance of discovery. And the closer I adhere to reality the more honest and authentic my tales. After all, knowledge of the real world is exactly what we need to better understand and therefore possibly to love one another. It’s my way of making the world a better place.” Albert Maysles
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