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exploring taste—santa margherita gruppo vinicolo people—antonia klugmann

Because memories have much to do with it. Antonia has roots in Polish Judaism, in Germany,
in Trieste, in Puglia, “and this is my inspiration, this is my cultural faceting” she says, “but I don’t have
a melancholic relationship with the past. I feel good with my past, that’s it.”

grown in Sicily for example”. She then insists I try the sea ci- tonia Klugmann says: “The project is powerful, and I assure
cada before the cauliflower and the mushrooms get cold. She you that I feel very protected. There are touristic paths and a
asks “Can you feel the contrast between hot and cold?” I can lot of communication about what goes on here. Compared to
feel it. She’s glad. the isolation that many chefs work in elsewhere in Italy, this
As she speaks about the dish, she explains that sea cicadas is a small miracle. Clients come here not for me but for the
come from the high Adriatic, like all of the fish used at L’Ar- territory. Either the territory works or I’m a spaceship floating
gine. She would never cook anything that doesn’t respect in nothingness”.
a precise ethic of sustainability, and she points out: “People To be chef has several meanings, as is true of anything cre-
who don’t think irritate me deeply. I haven’t eaten tuna in ative – writing, drawing, composing. A craft’s meaning has
years. I’m amazed at how some cooks can still use it, despite such a personal importance that a univocal definition cannot
being aware of what happens around the world. Foie gras, for exist, because memories have so much to do with it. Antonia
instance, I wouldn’t cook that or eat it. Some things upset me”. has roots in Polish Judaism, in Germany, in Trieste, in Puglia,
On a shelf, there’s a copy of Second nature, an essay by Michael “This is my inspiration, this is my cultural faceting” she says,
Pollan – a food critic, writer and journalist for the New York “But I don’t have a melancholic relationship with the past.
Times. It is the theoretical and practical story of an education I feel good about my past, that’s all there is to it”. About her
in horticulture and gardening, from Thoreau to Alexander job she explains “What isn’t generally clear, is that among 100
Pope (“Pollan is a cool guy” she smiles). Antonia then takes cooks, only 10 are chefs. The others are executors. And only
a big volume, the first edition of Vino al vino, Mario Soldati’s 1% of these 10 is really creative and will turn cuisine around,
tale of a journey through Italian vines. On the cover, there is the others will follow. It’s really a matter of what the craft is;
a close-up of a farmer holding a handful of purple grapes. We execution and repetition. They are very few who also have
then leave the restaurant and she points at the dozens of hills creativity”. I realize Antonia Klugmann is one of them when
around us, listing the names of the wineries. There are dozens, I ask her her plans for the future. She answers: “I’m currently
possibly more, we are surrounded by wine. The Collio goes working on a dish with chestnut, bottarga (roe) and apricot.
beyond political boundaries for Antonia “I consider this place It’s a dish that I’m really interested in, we’ll see what comes out
as unique, it’s normal, if you think that the Slovene Collio is of it. Sometimes it takes me 10 seconds to create a dish and
twice as big as in Italy, but I buy some of the raw products in sometimes 10 months. The more time passes, the more I re-
Stiria, Austria, Neblo, Dubrovo, in Slovenia”. On these lands a alize there isn’t a correct way”. She stops, her attention wavers
district was developed as a way of uniting history – the I and for a moment and then she’s back with us. She says “Apricot,
the II World War – with enogastronomy. On this matter, An- bottarga and chestnut, it’s not easy!”

Lamb, rose, karkadè and puntarelle

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