CIBUS!

Stage direction Stefano Simone Pintor

Starring Roberto Capaldo

Production EWT Agency

The production was staged at the Studio 40, Bologna in October 2013 and at the Corte Villa Spalletti, Reggio Emilia in December 2013

125 g of concentrated history of cooking

4 fresh eggs and 1 egg to drink

A hint of sex

1 cup of love

Patriotism and art q.s.

A handful of "literary cantatas"

200 fists of parboiled rice for laughter (1 fist per guest)

 

In a large room gather 200 people. Take an actor and a group of volunteers and process all the ingredients until they have achieved a good blend of anecdotes about the history of Italian food and cooking from its origins to the present day. Bake for about an hour, stirring occasionally to avoid losing the juiciness of the topics, the irony of the reflections (about why and how the food is able to influence the choices of humanity). Remove from the oven and let stir-fry everything with a fists of laughter. Garnish with a fondue made with an explosion of rhythm and music. Serve immediately and applaud.

Why do we continue to cook? Have you ever thought about it? We cook because we need to feel free! We cook to maintain the freedom and power to create what we want and what we like, with ingredients chosen by us. We cook because we need to decide how to use them, to decide how to control al those combinations... But above all we cook to recover this ancient skill, this technique that has shaped our evolution, and that is intrinsic of our human nature.

Cooking is an outlet. It is an outburst of anger, pent-up energies, hidden pain: when you beat the bread dough on the marble, rhythmically and with violence, when you cut raw beets or turnips, or crush almonds and walnuts, tear the leaves of the artichokes, crush and pulverize in a mortar your favorite spices, chop the parsley with a knife and leave it there to die on the chopping... You allow yourself to feel alive and to carry out the most heinous crimes without ever going to jail! But the kitchen is also love: love for what you cook; love for those you are cooking for. It gives enjoyment, it satisfies the senses. The kitchen is poetry, it is music, it is symphony.

Therefore, we say, in these times of crisis, if we have to start from scratch... Let's start from here! With this veritable hymn of love dedicated to the cooking, in a surreal encounter, a chef will reveal some secrets of what now, quite rightly, is recognized as an art. You will be directly involved in a gastronomic and theatrical experience in which you will find the taste of expressing yourself through your favourite dishes, through the recipes of your mother, your aunt, your neighbor or of the finest cookbooks, and through practical tests of your cooking skills and the listening of juicy anecdotes.

Because if the kitchen is the progress of civilization, then knowing how to cook is a moral imperative, something that should be taught at school at all costs, as a new value, a new conscious lifestyle from where we all should start again.

So, come on and cook!