A Guide to Chef Massimo Bottura’s Work and Philosophy

Chef Massimo Bottura was born and raised in Modena, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, an area bolstered by tradition and known for balsamic vinegar, opera, and pinky ring-sized tortellini. Massimo, one of the town’s native sons, tends to look at food—and the world—from a critical point of view, not a nostalgic one. When it comes to Italian cooking, this makes the Italian restaurateur something of an iconoclast: Massimo first garnered worldwide attention because of this inclination to buck tradition in favor of experimentation.

Bottura’s time spent working abroad in New York, under the tutelage of renowned chef Alain Ducasse at Le Louis XV in Monte Carlo. This experience exposed him to techniques that would ruffle feathers when applied to centuries-old Italian recipes; a nudge from visionary Spanish chef Ferran Adrià encouraged him to ruffle a few more. In 1995, after a stint at law school, Bottura opened his flagship Modenese establishment, Osteria Francescana; it was later joined by Franceschetta 58, a brasserie and bar with a more casual atmosphere, Gucci Osteria da Massimo Bottura in Beverly Hills, and Gucci Osteria da Massimo Bottura in Florence. This sister restaurant went on to win its own Michelin star.

Osteria Francescana broke into the top five of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list in 2011, and was ranked number one in 2016 and 2018—the only Italian restaurant ever to win first prize. It also carries three Michelin stars, the Michelin guide’s highest honor, a distinction that encourages travelers to make a memorable trip to a city or country just to visit a restaurant.

• Opening: When it opened in Modena in 1995, neither customers nor critics had much of an appetite for Massimo’s methodology: taking beloved, traditional recipes of the region and retooling them into dishes that are equal parts respectful and contemporary. It wasn’t until he began serving his tagliatelle with hand-chopped ragù that Massimo got buy-in from locals.
• First Michelin star: In 2001, one of Italy’s most celebrated food writers stopped in on a whim, wrote a glowing review, and helped the restaurant win its first Michelin star. From there, word of Massimo’s virtuosic improvisation in the kitchen spread, and curious eaters began making their way to Via Stella for a taste of his idiosyncratic genius.
• Media appearances: The premiere season of Netflix’s Chef’s Table featured the restaurant and its creator. Massimo and Osteria Francescana were also featured on an episode of the acclaimed Netflix series, Somebody Feed Phil, which follows Phil Rosenthal, the creator of Everybody Loves Raymond, as he visits his favorite eateries around the globe.

Massimo founded the nonprofit Food for Soul, with his wife, Lara Gilmore, in 2016, with a single mission: to find a use for the 1.3 billion tons of food wasted worldwide each year.

• Debut: Massimo first introduced a tangible vision for cooking sustainably and eliminating food waste during Expo Milan 2015, whose theme was “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life.” He called the outing “Refettorio Ambrosiano” and set up the community-based kitchen in a de facto dining room inside an abandoned theater in Milan’s low-income Greco neighborhood. (The word “refettorio” comes from the Latin “reficere,” meaning to “remake or restore.”) Using more than 15 tons of food salvaged from the exposition, Massimo—along with more than 65 internationally renowned chefs, including Eleven Madison Park’s Daniel Humm and El Celler de Can Roca’s Joan Roca—made thousands of meals that went to the city’s poor, unhoused, and otherwise underserved.
• Refettorios around the world: Massimo and Lara have used Food for Soul to power several more Refettorios, including Refettorio Gastromotiva (Rio de Janeiro), Refettorio Felix (London), Refettorio Paris, and two others in Modena and Bologna. Each community kitchen occupies a formerly dilapidated space in its respective city. More than 130 celebrated chefs have cooked at the various locations, all of whom use their expertise to craft gourmet dishes from proteins nearing their expiration dates and bruised or misshapen (or “ugly”) produce.
• Long-term plans: In 2017, the Rockefeller Foundation awarded Food for Soul a $500,000 grant to fight food insecurity in American cities. As of 2021, there are 11 Refettorios worldwide, and plans to launch a virtual hub for experts in different fields to collaborate on long-term food system innovation.

To learn more about Bottura’s creative process and zero-waste philosophy, check out his books:

1. 1. Pasta (2011): Bottura penned an introduction to this comprehensive guide to Italy’s most iconic pastas, released by the Academia Barilla Culinary Center.
2. 2. Never Trust a Skinny Italian Chef (2014): Bottura’s first book is an ode to the restaurant that made his name, Osteria Francescana, and delves into the inspiration and execution behind the menu and ambiance.
3. 3. Bread is Gold (2017): In Bread is Gold, Bottura tackles the larger implications of food waste and creativity, showcasing economical, zero-waste recipes and meals from world-renowned chefs.

Every dish on Osteria Francescana’s menu has its own unique backstory, but a select few transcended the physical restaurant and captured the world’s imagination from afar.

1. 1. The Crunchy Part of the Lasagna: An ode to the corner pieces of the casserole and a love letter to the Italian flag, “The Crunchy Part of the Lasagna,” made its Osteria Francescana debut in 1995. The dish features flags of crunchy, crisp wafers made from Parmigiano-Reggiano and spinach pasta atop a rich base of ragu, béchamel sauce, and tomato terrine soon became a calling card for Massimo’s playful sense of nostalgia.
2. 2. Five Ages of Parmigiano Reggiano in Different Textures and Temperatures: Massimo’s ode to Italy’s beloved cheese, this dish showcases the many nuances of aged Parmigiano with a demi-soufflé and mousse, served on a puddle of Parmigiano sauce, and crowned with a Parmigiano wafer and Parmigiano “air”—a fine foam made from a broth of Parmigiano, aged a minimum of 50 months.
3. 3. Oops! I Dropped the Lemon Tart: A dessert known as Oops! I Dropped the Lemon Tart was born when sous chef Taka Kondo accidentally dropped one of the pastries in question. Now, the dessert is always served upside down and smashed.
4. 4. Emilia Burger: The hamburger is an ideal candidate for culinary experimentation: all of its elements—meat, cheese, bread, condiments—can be easily amended based on what’s locally available. The Emilia Burger features a patty of Italian beef mixed with gelatin from cotechino (a local pork sausage) and Parmigiano-Reggiano, paired with a balsamic mayonnaise and an herb sauce based on Italian salsa verde.
5. 5. Passatelli With Brodo di Tutto (Broth of Everything): In the spirit of Massimo’s zero-waste philosophy, this “broth of everything” extracts the “mood” from various scraps and forms the flavorful base for passatelli, a pasta made with bread crumbs from stale bread. Learn how to make Massimo’s Passatelli With Brodo di Tutto.

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