OfChiara Severgnini
Chef Max Mariola talks about his restaurant in Milan, his career, his family. «My wife is my talking cricket: she is the one who knows how to shoot, edit and post videos. My son has never eaten a snack”
Max Mariola wanted to be a chef when he grew up. And he succeeded. Then, after years spent in the kitchen, working for the Gambero Rosso Channel, he realized that he liked the camera: a precious intuition. Today he has 9 million followers between TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube, bewitched by the catchphrase “the sound of love” (i.e. the sound of pasta when it is creamed: “Erotic, like many things in the kitchen”). Today he earns (also) thanks to social media, carefully choosing the brands to promote (“If I’m credible it’s because I’ve never betrayed people”, he claims). But he remains, first and foremost, a chef: in 2024 he opened a restaurant that bears his name. Not in his beloved Rome, however, but in Milan, the Brera area. And if there are those online who criticize prices (some of them high) or furnishings (there are those who complain: “The tablecloths are missing”), he chooses to focus on those who have already been to his restaurant several times: “If the customers come back, the direction is right. But I don’t feel like I’ve arrived: I always aim to improve.”
What job did you dream of?
«Already at 14 I wanted to be a chef. But my father, after middle school, forced me to follow in his footsteps. And so I worked for years in our company, a historic workshop for the restoration of precious metal objects. Then, when I was 22, my father passed away suddenly: an enormous pain that pushed me to change my life.”
First job in the industry?
«I was cleaning a kitchen. Free. I hadn’t worked as a hotelier, I wanted to catch up: some wonderful people taught me a lot, but without a salary. It wasn’t easy: dad had left us no debts, but no money either. But I think it was important to start from the bottom: to manage a kitchen you have to know it. And only those who know how to obey also know how to command. Then I attended a private cooking school. At that point I had a salary, I paid it like this: in the evening I worked the restaurant shift, during the day the courses”.
He knows how to stay in front of the camera. When did she understand this?
«When the others told me! In 1999 a teacher from the cooking school called me and said: we are making a food TV channel, would you like to be my assistant? At first I was just behind the scenes, then I started doing my own columns. I did TV for 22 years: that’s a long time.”
Why throw yourself on social media?
«My wife, who is a very rational woman, understood that the TV couldn’t give me much. So in 2018 we started making videos, shot by her, for Facebook and YouTube: we were successful and we took the plunge. Then in 2022 there was a collapse in views on horizontal videos: everything had moved to vertical. And there I said: what do I do? Do I go on TikTok? I was afraid of being out of place, with white hair. Instead, my knowledge of cooking and my language worked.”
Now he’s a star. Have you received strange proposals on social media?
“Someone. Once they asked me to go and cook on a private Turkish island that can only be reached by helicopter or boat.”
His wife never shows herself. What can you tell us about her?
«He is ten years younger than me. She graduated with honors in Management and unlike me she loves studying and does so constantly. For example, despite being a foreigner, she got a Rome tour guide license: she studied the entire history of the city in a language that isn’t even her own! She’s the one who knows how to shoot, edit and post videos.”
Your son often appears on his social media. This is a divisive choice.
«We show it because we think of a clean, good world. But also to make it clear what food we raised him with: vegetables, meat, zero sugary drinks. He doesn’t know snacks: there isn’t any sugar in our house.”
He has more than 30 years of experience in the world of cooking. How do you see the future?
«Italy should aim to become the haute couture of food: maintaining current production and quantities, but raising prices. Like Hermès does, which in fact has a waiting list for Birkins: it increases prices, not the circulation.”
But so prices also increase for ordinary people.
«Ordinary people need to understand that you don’t have to buy salmon, mackerel is fine. And you shouldn’t buy asparagus in December, but broccoli. At Christmas you can find cherries from Chile: they cost who knows how much and they are not sustainable! I would like to hit those who buy them, and maybe even have an eco-friendly shopping bag.”
How did the idea of opening your own restaurant in Milan come about?
«I stopped working in a kitchen in 2017: I did events, consultancy, social media… And I lived well: I stayed at home, made my recipes and enjoyed my son. But my wife, the talking cricket, kept repeating: you’re not a chef if you don’t have a restaurant! I chose Milan because everyone works better here. Roman, Sardinian, Apulian, it doesn’t matter: at his house he works one way, in Milan even better. And then because this city offers many opportunities to those who want to do something: it’s a bit like our Silicon Valley. There are wonderful minds, people who do crazy things and don’t snooze. Rome is the most beautiful city in the world, and I miss it, but there is a particular air here: I define it as “carbonated water”».
Do you dream of being reported by gastronomic guides?
«I don’t think I’m interesting to them: my cuisine is so simple… And then mine is an unusual place: we serve the artichoke alla giudia in a context where there is music, not in a trattoria with a tablecloth in squares”.
When in your restaurant people start taking photos for social media, instead of enjoying the dishes, what do you think?
«They may have been following me for years: it’s right that they take a souvenir photo. Do you know how many wrote to me to ask me to come and eat at my place? Now we can finally hug each other. It is also a way to thank them: without them I am nobody.”
Searching it on Google, the question comes up: “How much does your restaurant cost?”
«My carbonara costs 28 euros, but it’s made at the table: it’s not just a dish, it’s a show. The average cost is 60 euros per person, drinks included. It’s a low price in the area: you have to think about how much a waiter costs here, the rent…”.
What is your main source of income today?
“Events. I also wrote a book but it’s the thing that brought me the least profit: I did it because it’s satisfying. You can earn a lot on social media, but you can also get shit done. It depends on greed. I’m not greedy: in 2018 I refused 38 thousand euros for three videos and four photos, because I should have promoted diced bacon in a tray. So I didn’t even make that money in a year of work, but I told my wife: my path is different. Better to earn less but promote products I believe in.”
And the restaurant?
«For now it is an investment. If we are good, in a year we will cover the cost of financing for the construction, without earning a penny.”
Next step?
«An online cooking academy».
April 23, 2024 (changed April 23, 2024 | 07:19)
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