Tomatoes, olive oil, eggs, milk. Simple ingredients that, in the right hands, can be transformed into sensational dishes that catapult something humble into something divine. That's the goal each year at Identita Golose, a weekend-long celebration in October of contemporary Italian cuisine that brings celebrated chefs from Italy and pairs them with their contemporaries in the United States. Now in its 6th year at Eataly, the culinary event features master classes and gala dinners, which are not nearly as stuffy—the wine is VERY free-flowing—as they might sound.
This year's lineup is spectacular, as it has been since the NYC incarnation. Mario Batali is on hand, naturally, and joined by Moreno Cedroni of Madonnina del Pescatore in Senigallia, a town on Italy's east coast. The due will be examining the many virtues of Extra Virgin Olive Oil for their master class, while Michael White and Massimo Bottura, arguably one of Italy's most celebrated chefs, will be tackling Bread. Tickets to these classes are steep at $125 a pop, but again, there's lots of wine and everyone gets to tuck into whatever the chefs cook during the one hour event.
Gala
The gala dinners are loads of fun, too—again with the wine! Each of the four courses is prepared by a different chef, so you experience different styles and unique voices. There's often a giant block of parmigiano-reggiano to nosh on before the seated dinner, which takes place on the rooftop beer garden at Eataly. There will be speeches mixed in Italian and English, you probably will not understand what's being said, but with a glass of prosecco in hand it's impossible to complain. Tickets for the galas go for $190.
Here's the schedule for this year's Identita:
Wednesday, September 30
Thursday, October 1
Friday, October 2
Saturday, October 3
