Okay, honestly, how many times have you tasted a dessert made with a variety of tomatoes, or even heard about the same? The popular Italian chef Fabrizio Marino made us taste it and that was definitely one of the high points of our Maldives trip this year. We met chef Fabrizio at the food festival at Just Veg restaurant, in Atmosphere Kanifushi, the first-ever vegetarian restaurant to open in the country.
The Tuscan culinary maverick, celebrated for bringing creative vegan and vegetarian fine dining into the spotlight, is known for dishes that are at once delicate and bold – transforming fruits, vegetables, and herbs into vibrant stories on a plate. An ardent follower of Lord Krishna, Fabrizio says the beauty of India increased for him manifolds after his visit to Dwarka, the city of Lord Krishna.
Along with that what really intrigued us is his love for vegetarian food. We hurled questions at him while he taught us to make the perfect gnocchi, and he happily answered what makes him return to the Just Veg food festival every year, and how he blends Maldivian food culture with Italian. Excerpts:
What goes into curating the menu at Just Veg?
Every year, I present myself at the JV Festival with the ideas I'm developing in Italy at my restaurant Maggese. These are adapted to the Maldivian context, adapted to the kitchen equipment, and shared with the fantastic resident chefs.
This year, I kept the theme around "charm of simplicity," a "simple" (essential) ingredient that can imply complex architecture, and "charm," which is spontaneous beauty.
Two words that resonate vividly.
How do you make sure you make the menu varied every year?
Last year we roasted a watermelon and made an appetizer very similar to tuna in texture and colour. This year, among the new developments, we explored marine flora. We cooked pasta with seaweed, essentially, and added a French touch with parsley, garlic, and butter. Delicious, in my opinion! I always try to maintain a playful spirit.
How are you inspired by the Maldivian cuisine? Any personal favourites?
Yes, of course! Maldivian cuisine inspires me. There are some things I find very interesting (almost all fish-based, of course) that can be reinterpreted and played with. The spicy aromatic notes (curry leaves, pandan leaves), the clear and flavorful broths (garudia), the fish extracts (rikaahuru), and the drying process with the heat of the fire and the sun that gives the food smoky aromas.
By far the most important ingredient here is coconut, whose extract can even replace cream.
Italians love their meat. What inspired you to play up with vegetarian/vegan flavours, and as you say creating very simple dishes with many layered flavours?
Creativity is expressed in freedom. I feel free like this, and I consider this attitude of mine an attractive, ethical, and important career choice for the future.
If you consider that vegetarian cooking means: Vegetables of a thousand flavours and seasons, fresh or dried fruit, herbs, spices, vegetable fats of various origins and characteristics, noble vegetable proteins from legumes or nuts... we are immediately catapulted into a broad and satisfying, colourful, and rich culinary world.
I am a lover of good things, and in everything I touch, I find a charm worth sharing with my guests.
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