Can the entirely French tradition of huitrerie, or oyster shops, be together together with the even more continental one which is also largely inspired by medieval herbaria and the similar Mediterranean and Calabrian traditions of mixology? And both can be accompanied together with those ancestral references and flavours, a synthesis of the many historical influences that make Calabria extraordinary, for example together with everything that in a simple dish of authentic local fish can be traced back to the very rich inherited tradition of sciabbachedd by the Arabs (šabakah)?
There is a common thread that can hold together these three roots, these three stories and these three products which immediately become three experiences, three declinations, three colors of the same emotion. And that common thread is identity together with obviously the ability to translate its authenticity into a tasting or a cocktail. Thus and hence MINIKƏ was born, which will open the summer on the Ionian Sea and in Calabria coinciding with the Summer Solstice next Friday 21 June.
It will first of all be a new experiential concept of tasting and getting closer to the ancestral soul of foods and their gastronomic interpretations; an atmosphere more than a physical space and which aims to present itself as a landing point for those fleeing from déjà vu; almost a Pythagorean formula for those who want to build pyramids of pleasure at the table or at the bar counter; also a bit of a club of taste in which to be attracted and introduced but to travel elsewhere with imagination and memory; and at the same time a midday window on that beautiful and tough maritime tradition that in the heart of the Mediterranean flows through our veins indelible and which belongs entirely but additionally, because it derives from all those cultures and identities that over the centuries have lived with us on our coasts.
With MinikƏ, we also complete, at least for now, a historical family parable, which began a century ago on board the gozzi towards Taranto and then returns towards the sea, to Lido Sant’Angelo, a contemporary offshoot of an entire area which, with the remains of the Fondaco and the Torre Stellata together with the ancient quay of which underwater traces resurface, testify to the ancient and glorious maritime history, often forgotten, of Rossano, today merged into the largest city in Calabria: Corigliano-Rossano.
For this reason MinikƏ will also and above all represent the fourth generation of a long, recognized and esteemed experience of men and women closely linked to the waves, to the richness and history of the Ionian Sea and to the thousand-year-old tradition of small-scale fishing, with an open spirit and with authentic smile, typical of our coastal people, heirs of Magna Graecia and Bruzi, with their gaze on the horizon but their feet always on the ground – as the Sociologist of Meridian Thought Franco Cassano would say.
Natural and legitimate heir of 100 years of history, passion, courage, innovation, tradition, family and business consolidated on that same sea which has always been a source of life, wealth, freedom and social experimentation for those who preceded this new frontier, identity distinctiveness of MinikƏ is as if sublimated in its own brand which is a whole menu and which perfectly translates the pride, vision and passion not only of a family and a team but of the whole of Calabria which, with its new generations, aims to rewrite, also through the food and wine experience, a more competitive narrative of its past and present.
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