Rimini, 29 June 2024 – The mystery “Someone is killing the greatest chefs in Italy” by Luca IaccarinoThe well-known journalist and food critic will present it this evening at 9pm at MystFestCattolica Fest, in Piazza 1° Maggio, chatting with Fulvio Marino, miller and baker, as well as a popular television face on Rai 1, Real Time and Food Network. The talk, proposed in collaboration with UlisseFest, Lonely Planet’s travel festival, will precede the closing ceremony of the 51st Gran Giallo Città di Cattolica Award. Meanwhile, Iaccarino will reveal the lights and shadows of Italian cuisine in a cheerful way.
How did this story come about?
“Seven years ago I wrote the book ‘Someone is killing Turin’s greatest chefs’, inspired by a film from the 1970s, ‘Someone is killing Europe’s greatest chefs’, a gastronomic comedy by Ted Kotcheff. With my publication I wanted to talk about Piedmontese cuisine, so I invented a little comic thriller. In the wake of this, from the height of my 51 springs and my thirty years of writing about food, I tried to do something more ambitious and structured, always in a comic, fun and witty way”.
With a more serious look?
“A little more serious, because the solution to the mystery has to do with the sometimes toxic environments of kitchens. Unfortunately for years we have been talking about the quality of the work of the chefs and waiters which should improve. In some cases it is so low that people then feel bad. This leads to the solution to the mystery.”
Is there a particular one among the key characters?
“My alter ego. He bears my name and is a precarious journalist passionate about gastronomy, but enslaved by his editor-in-chief who is also at the helm of a gastronomic supplement of the elusive newspaper La Gola. He is Gianfrancesco Bottaioli, horrid, overbearing and arrogant journalist of the First Republic, one of those who ask for the most expensive bottles in restaurants and don’t want to pay the bill.
Who are the other protagonists?
“The investigation that unfolds between the murders sees the death of great Italian chefs such as Antonino Cannavacciuolo and two other famous people who work between Emilia and Marche. I will let the reader discover them. Then there is Jessica, a young waitress who leaves Marche and goes to work in Romagna for the season, also working in a beach resort in Rimini. It is she who leads to the solution of the mystery”.
Is cooking an old passion of yours?
“I have written about cooking since I was a boy and have continued to do so over time as a journalist, because I love popular cuisine. My first love is trattorias, not starred restaurants. Thirty years ago I began writing about street food, then pizzerias and then trattorias of which I believe I am one of the greatest experts. Sometimes I also treat myself to a quick visit to great restaurants”.
Do you like cooking?
“I have a wife and children, but I mostly take care of it. I especially like preparing stuffed anchovies, I love doing it while watching films like Murder, She Wrote”.
What do you think of gastronomic Romagna?
“It’s a very lucky land, I happen to come here three or four times a year, I also find its seafood products surprising and then the places here are very welcoming”.
