The McItaly sandwiches we told you about in January have provoked a macro-row in Italy, with critics accusing Agriculture Minister Luca Zaia of selling out to a multinational [McDonald’s] and sacrificing Italy’s culinary traditions and reputation in the process. Opposition politicians have also criticised the Ministry of Agriculture for granting the products their seal of approval while Carlo Petrini, the founder of the Slow Food Movement, has challenged the Minister to spell out exactly how much Italy’s farmers are earning from the venture.
However, salvation may be at hand as one of Italy’s most respected chefs, Gualtiero Marchesi, announced on Tuesday that three skyscrapers due to be built in Milan have inspired him to create special sandwiches in their honour. The three “albero” [tree] skyscrapers are to be built on a rather desolate space in the Milan CityLife complex and their shapes have earned them the nicknames, “Il Dritto” [The Straight One], “Il Curvo” [The Curved One] and ”Lo Storto” [The Crooked One].
The complex has been designed by a team of “starchitects” including Daniel Libeskind and Zaha Hadid, the designer of Rome’s 21st Century Art Museum. The skyscrapers have been criticised by some because they think that they clash with their older surroundings but Chef Marchesi likes them and feels that they deserve the homage of his sandwich creations.
Gualtiero Marchesi was born into a family of hoteliers in Milan in 1930. He studied at a hotel school in Switzerland and worked in several restaurants in France before returning to Italy to open a hotel with his parents. In 1977 he opened his own restaurant and quickly gained a Michelin star. The following year he was awarded a second star but it took him another seven years to become the first Italian chef to be awarded three Michelin stars. He now owns a restaurant in Milan and runs the Osteria dell’Orso, Rome’s oldest eating establishment.
Chef Marchesi isn’t telling anyone what the ingredients will be for his “skyscraper sandwiches” but they will not be fast food and he is confident that his clientèle will like them.
Would you prefer a McItaly or a “Skyscraper sandwich”?
