Valle d’Itria arrives in the lagoon and does so in the name of flavour, with a brunch that will take place on Sunday 15 December in Venissa, the wine resort on the island of Mazzorbo, in the Venetian lagoon, just a short pedestrian bridge away from Burano . Here, in the restaurant that boasts a red star and a green star for sustainability and where chefs Chiara Pavan and Francesco Brutto pursue their profound idea of environmentally conscious cuisine, the appointment is at 11.30 with “Moroseta Kitchen x Venissa ”, a collaborative event between Pavan+Brutto and Giorgia Eugenia Goggi, chef of Masseria Moroseta in Ostuni.
Two stories that intertwine, two souls (or rather three) made to understand each other. Goggi, in fact, is a Milanese with a past in the world of fashion who, after having worked in Milan at Basara, a Japanese pastry shop in via Tortona, and at Erba Brusca, Alice Delcourt’s urban vegetable garden, found it a bit by chance its range of action in the Itria Valley and does not seem to have the slightest intention of leaving it. There she discovered an extraordinary territory, ingredients of the highest level, a huge human capital and managed to give shape to her idea that brings together healthy and conscious cuisine with a perfect balance between the vegetable part and animal proteins. All in a refined and relaxed context at the same time, in which the guest is not just a consumer to feed, but a person with whom to establish a dialogue and if possible even a relationship that goes beyond the simple act of cooking and eating. This is why the heart of Masseria Moroseta Kitchen is in the social table around which to gather for a consortium of souls. Among his dishes, simple but never sloppy, there are Moroseta Meatballs, Lemon Rosemary and Pear Risotto, Roasted Fennel Soup, Chickpea Fritters, Pasta with Octopus Ragout and many preserves.
In such a journey it was inevitable that Goggi would sooner or later meet Chiara Pavan and Francesco Brutto, who in their kitchen in Venissa offer a cuisine that reflects daily on the surrounding environment and with the signs that the cuisine leaves on it. The two have refined their path from season to season, going as far as they could go without giving up either the good things to eat or the good things to do. Among their practices, an “anarchist” vegetable garden that they take care of next to the restaurant, less beautiful than many others that I have seen in many restaurants but very sincere and aware; the renunciation of any type of meat and the use only of fish from the lagoon, preferring above all the invasive species that are driving out the native ones, such as the blue crab; the use of allophytic plants and the vegetables they produce or those of some supporters. A cuisine that is truly totally anti-waste and yet delicious, because it wouldn’t make sense to follow a path that was virtuous from an environmental point of view but still has any organoleptic appeal.
In short, the brunch on Sunday 15th will be an opportunity for a meeting of cultures, territories and sensitivities, in an alliance of intentions that could be transformed into notes for a new gastronomy. Anyone who is curious can book by writing to [email protected] or by going to venissa.
superbexperience.com.
Venissa is in Fondamenta Santa Caterina 3, in Mazzorbo. In addition to the starred restaurant there is also a contemporary tavern. Hospitality is entrusted to the five beautiful rooms of the resort and the apartments of Casa Burano.