Our chef tells how his passion for cooking was born, and what books he used as examples.

Gualtiero Marchesi has been described as growing up in a pot. While training under the eye of his mother, he began to specialize in tavola calda e fredda (hot and cold food service) which, usually connected with a bar, offers quality ready-to-eat dishes. La Cucina Italiana (Italian Cooking) is a periodical that's been on newsstands since 1929. Paola Ricas, who was an editor there, shares a special moment in its history.

Gualtiero Marchesi tells us a bit about when he discovered "haute cuisine" in a famous hotel school in Switzerland.

Gualtiero Marchesi, together with his friend Medagliani, figured out how to invent new kinds of pots and pans to make the most of his new recipes.

Giovanni Ballarini talks about what the kitchens of Italian restaurants were like in the fifties and sixties. To make sense of how he describes them, see Yabla lesson Parole Alterate - Modifying Words to Create New Ones, as well as video lesson Marika spiega: Parole alterate. Gianni Mura talks about some of the trends found on restaurant menus today.

Marchesi had plenty of artist friends, and that meant late nights, while having a restaurant meant getting up at the crack of dawn to go to the market. How did he do it?

Artist Nanda Vigo, a friend of Gualtiero Marchesi's, tells us what it was like to be an artist back in those days, and how Marchesi was involved.

Massimo Montanari, an expert in historical food studies, discusses the role of women in the development of regional cooking.

In Italian families, the role of women has always been one of fundamental importance. Women were able to create wonderful meals with humble ingredients, but as talented as they might have been, their place was in the home, running the family, not travelling abroad learning haute cuisine.

Marchesi talks about how much he learned from just being around great chefs who happened to be relatives, but also how much he learned from books. There are also some interesting opinions about why most great chefs are male!

Milan, as it became an important center for gastronomy and publishing, relinquished, at the same time, part of its regional identity.

Various experts talk about their memories of Milan back in the fifties: Sunday morning rituals of getting pastries from the "best," bars, eating big meals twice a day, the cathedral square with its tram and neon lights, and so forth.

Italian cuisine in the fifties reflected both the economic prospering, and the cultural growth of a population that had also begun opening up to new horizons through the birth of tourism.

Being a man of culture as well as an expert chef, Gualtiero Marchesi has found himself being inspired by artists. He talks of dripping food onto a platter, much as Jackson Pollock would drip paint onto a canvas.

Gualtiero Marchesi describes both his old and the new versions of Pollo Kiev (Chicken Kiev). Relatively simple and tasty, especially if you like butter!