Stirring the Pot: BeyondCuisine's attempt at a recipe for change in the culinary gender mix

Too southern Italian, too fat, too lesbian: The Milan star chef Viviana Varese clearly mentions the starting conditions for her career by name.

Today, she is considered one of the best employers in her desappreed industry.

By Anne Goebel Milan, Piazza XV Aprile, the view opens far over the square, to the old city gate and the elegant facades of the houses. At least if you sit in the most exposed place, on a kind of oating glass terrace they missed the Teatro Smeraldo the smeraldo's sloping stem a few years ago. Down on the ground oor of the former theater, the foodies at Eataly slide past crowded food shelves. On the second oor: light, air, open space, the best tables made of oak wood are right in front of the window. High above the city, Viviana Varese resides with her restaurant, and that means more than an undoubtedly business-promoting 1A location. The

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"Too southern Italian, too fat, too lesbian"

"Viva" is the name of the restaurant of the cook, about which in Milan - and that means: in Italy - as much is spoken and written as hardly any other person in the gastronomy scene. It's going well, a Michelin star, opening of a second restaurant in a luxurious resort in Sicily, the coveted ranking "The World's 50 Best Restaurants" lists them as particularly innovative. While on a sunny February day the young service staff brings the bread selection to the rst guests - blonde brioches, a wafer-thin atbread with translucent vegetable strips - you need a little patience until the hostess is ready. What does not interfere with the panoramic view under a brightly cleaned sky. At the next table, two petite old ladies in camel hair coats and chunky Prada sneakers set up. Varese wears classic white when she bends around the corner, not one of the dark kitchen gowns in which she likes to be photographed. Rasp short hair with forehead tolle, rm handshake, "sono Viviana". An espresso?

Served promptly, and off we go.

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"In gastronomy, too little changes."

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Beletage is the happy end of a story that began much further down and should not have happened at all. Even their good ending has not yet been foreseen in scripts of the top kitchen.

Of course, best with the sentence that made her acquainted, apart from her nely evated vegetable aromas or her famous toothbream carpaccio.

"Terrona, obesa, lesbicha," with this selfdescription, Viviana Varese entered the stage of high cuisine when the whole of Italy became aware of the rebellious chef with the Gianna-Nannini voice and the hype really started. Too fat, lesbian, from the deepest south: This was the summary of their starting conditions, which actually suggested not to even try. She did it anyway, refuting any bad prognosis. But apart from the fact that a successful promotion story is a pretty good marketing tool would she still say the sentence today? "Of course I would," says Varese. "Because he's still true. For me personally, a lot has changed. But too little changes in gastronomy."

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Exclusion, lack of equal opportunities, hierarchical structures in the kitchen: Changing this is a central concern of the 48-year-olds, not only since the recent debates about the "Noma" in Copenhagen have once again cast an unpleasant light on the employment practice of luxury restaurants. If you do not come to the "Viva" to eat well (which would be a mistake), you can already see from the facility that other ways are being taken here. No strict minimalism or modern unbridled pomp, but colored

If you ght against exclusion - and at the moment not a word goes over your lips as easily as diversity - you don't have to have had bad experiences yourself. But Viviana Varese emphasizes the connection with her biography. "How could I not look at those who are on the edge with my own story?" She has employed former drug addicts, welcomed refugees into her kitchen, works with a women's shelter in Milan. Born on the Amal Coast, she comes to Lombardy as a nine-year-old, like so many, the parents try her luck as innkeepers in the north. In the eighties, the arrivals from the south are still quite unabakedly referred to as "Terroni", eartheaters.

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The parents' pizzeria in a provincial nest is ourishing, Viviana is already at the age of 14 as responsible at the oven, weighs 125 kilos and is the one at school with whom no one wants to date.

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glass objects, friendly light wood, the cutlery shimmers in rainbow colors depending on the light thanks to special coating. Varese certainly sees herself as an LGBTQ activist, but her actual job is at the stove. She pursues both with unagitated selfcon dence. The name "Viva" not only means "alive" in Italian, but is also a game with the rst syllables of their name.

None of the classmates, and later none of the boys, although she likes the girls anyway. "I was still happy," she says. "I loved being in the kitchen."

Maybe it's just like that: The victim role is not her.

Your personal turning point is a station in the world-famous "El Celler de Can Roca"

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This is followed by: An internship with the legendary three-star chef Galtiero Marchesi, for which she has to pay out of her own pocket. Rows of rejections when looking for an apprenticeship, it was enough to be a woman as a reason. This was never said openly, but it was clear to her. After all, the opening of her rst own restaurant in Milan - as an autodidact. "30 years ago, women practically did not pre-emer in restaurant kitchens," she says.

"They were simply not intended." Insults, physical attacks, sexual assaults: Especially in an industry in which this was everyday life in kitchens for generations before everyone's eyes, the MeToo movement got underway late. "Today, the high kitchen is still predominantly misogynistic, white and racist," says Varese. "And I want to sow the seed so that it will be different." She once stopped an internship in a highly decorated restaurant in Chicago because she could no longer stand the "paramilitary testosterone atmosphere." The

condescending treatment of immigrants, who were turned out for a starvation for auxiliary work, outraged them.

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After all, her personal turning point is a station in the world-famous "El Celler de Can Roca" in Spain, which welcomes her openly. There are fewer hierarchies, less secrecy about preparation methods. In 2011, the Michelin star for her new restaurant, with which she moves to the modern building complex in Milan's Garibaldi distract. And now she has reached the top to stay right there, against all probability? Viviana Varese has to laugh at the question, not only because someone like her always sets herself new goals, and there is room for improvement with the stars. It also seems that she still enjoys her own success story. And when she talks about her way of cooking, it's about dishes with soul, "con anima", which differ from the cold perfection of tightly organized preparation laboratories. Her grilled artichoke heart with bitter chocolate and licorice, the small steamed pizza ball with sweet tomato core: "I look for the avors of my origin in every dish. If you like, according to the essence of the South."

Open detail view "La perfezione non existe" is called Varese's dessert made of meringue and Sicilian almonds, "perfection does not exist" - a small reference to the broken lemon cake of colleague Massimo Bottura. (Photo: Azzurra Primavera)

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She succeeds in this together with her kitchen brigade, which could hardly be more diverse.

Almost half of the 20 employees are women, she has worked with refugees from Senegal or Ghana, skin color or sexual orientation of course do not play a role in the hiring. "Why also, what is this supposed to have to do with the ability as a cook?" she says. There are daily brie ngs where she attaches importance to the family atmosphere, shortly after the pandemic she introduced a rotation system, according to which everyone in the kitchen is responsible for the clean dishes, including the chef. And yes, of course she conducts job interviews herself, even with interns - and she likes

to give beginners a chance. "Try it out, that's the only way you can nd your way, that's my motto."

She nds it inconsistent that top gastronomy constantly complains about personnel problems, but hardly anyone hires employees who do not t into the common scheme. "Talent is not always visible at rst glance. I want to accompany people who are enthusiastic about the profession." Not a matter of course if the performance has to be right every day. Sometimes there are still separations that are painful. "But in some cases we have stayed connected. It's nice if that succeeds."

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There must be no compromises in quality with her either, this is made clear, for example, by the project "Io sono viva" in English "I'm alive". For this, she has employed victims of domestic violence, the

number of which has also skyrocketed in Italy during Corona, as unskilled forces for ice cream creations, fruit tarts or uffy breakfast brioches.

Everything under the supervision of an experienced pastry chef, the assortment is sold in its own shop.

The fruits for the lemon cake come from the Amal Coast, or from your own garden, which is connected to its restaurant "Villadorata" in Sicily, which opened in 2021. It is located near the Baroque city of Noto, which has more and more become a favorite place for Sicilian-loving tourists from the USA or Asia. The southern Italian romance can cost a lot to many of them. "But of course," again the typical rough Varese laugh, "is good for me. I am also an entrepreneur."

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And what their own cultivation elds do not provide in terms of vegetables and fruit, an agricultural cooperative from the neighborhood delivers. This is what Viviana Varese means with "terra", with earthrelatedness and the love for regional products, which then end up re ned on the plates of the restaurants. In Milan, this is dif cult, no garden and no greenery far and wide. But the restaurant itself and its crew are, if you like, a rare plant.