For seven years Alessandro Borghese is at the helm of the culinary reality show “4 restaurants“, where he puts four restaurateurs and as many venues to the test. The show is one of the longest-running and most beloved formats on TV, but what viewers see is not all that really happens behind the cameras. The chef confessed this during the interview with Fabio Rovazzi and Marco Mazzoli in their new podcast “2046“, recounting some disgusting experiences he had while recording the program.
Alessandro Borghese was a guest of the episode entitled “The food school” together with Giulia Innocenzi, presenter and essayist. During the podcast the guests talked about food, farming and food problems, but the guest experience was also the right opportunity for Rovazzi and Mazzoli to investigate “4 Restaurants“hey backstory most unique ones related to transmission. Thus the starred chef revealed that he had personally lived two experiences that have nothing to do with good cooking and good food.
The episode of the uncleaned entrails
Speaking of rural cuisine, the one linked to the land, Alessandro Borghese recalled an episode of “4 Restaurants” registered in Sardinia: “We were in Barbagia and three elderly Sardinian shepherds and a younger one who was seen in a dubious manner by the older ones were taking part. We record the last supper: embers of meat and Sa Cordula, that is, the small intestine of the lamb twisted on itself“. The chef said that the typical Sardinian dish is cooked on the grill before being served to diners and that the cleaning of the innards is critical. An operation that, apparently, was not carried out to the letter during the program: “The dish arrives at the table and the shepherds look at each other, one smells it and says: ‘It tastes like shit’. But we were on the show, so with the cameras and everything else, so we cut and eat. But I don’t have it done. After eating a small piece I ran behind the shed to vomit“.
The head of the fish from the garbage
The disgusting dish tasted in Sardinia is not the only one to have left a terrible memory for Borghese. Another misadventure also happened during the recording of an episode dedicated to a well-known seaside city. “We were at the seaside, I order one sea bass and it comes to me without a head. I ask why and the waiter tells me confidently: ‘Don’t worry, I’ll sort everything out’.
He heads towards the kitchen but I follow him without showing and I see him stick his hand in the kitchen garbagetakes the head of the fish and places it back on the plate attached to the fish”, revealed the starred chef, concluding: “A big disaster happened there“. All scenes that, obviously, were not aired but which describe what is beyond what we see on the small screen.
