Creating
something new is always an exacting
experience. Frustratingly slow at times but it can be a richly rewarding
experience once completed. Such was the case with ‘Coffee Absolute Gastronomy’,
a very personal labour of love. For Goan Flavel Monteiro, the book, which was
released on February 17, 2019, won the Independent Publishers Award in the US.
Speaking exclusively to Café, he said the challenge was coming
up with a name for the book; at first he called it ‘Coffee&Cuisine’ and
while the book was coming together ‘Coffee Absolute Gastronomy’ came to mind.
The main aim was to produce a book that would travel around the
world. He started out with just one person in mind – Guy Savoy, the very best
from France and La Liste’s Culinary Best, who confirmed that he would write the
first words. Flavel said, “The next was choosing the chefs, so I reached out to
a dear friend, Heinz Beck, who graciously said yes, then Konstantin Filippou
from Austria, Grant MacPherson from the US, Colin Clague from Dubai, Alfredo
Russo from Italy and Vineet Bhatia. From then on I was on a roll; I reached out
to Manu (Manoella Buffara) in Brazil and at the end to Teresa Cutter, The
Healthy Chef from Sydney, Australia. It was a collective of 35 Michelin stars
(chefs and one sommelier) from 6 continents-23 countries.”
Still not happy and wanting something more, he reached out to
Ferran Adrià, who had turned El Bulli into the most daring and influential
restaurant of its time and they (Ferran and Albert Adrià) came back Coffee
Sapiens. There was still something missing and he reached out to a dear friend
and the first photographer of the Rolling Stone Magazine, Baron Wolman. He sent
a beautiful poem which read ‘I did it for you my friend’.
Which then leads one to next obvious question, why coffee? He
said, “When one speaks about coffee, it’s usually an espresso single or double
shot or a flat white or a cappuccino but never coffee as an ingredient in
cuisine. So, my focus was to be creative and from a simple spaghettoni with
coffee powder to the elaborate caviar cones, where each of these brilliant and
outstanding chefs brought out the best of their culinary prowess while working
with coffee as an ingredient. It was a creative culinary approach to see how
these chefs conceive recipes was amazing, the way they incorporated and infused
coffee was inspiring. I realised that we needed to have a Lavazza Experience. I
spoke with a good friend, Reif Othman, and during one of our many
collaborations, he had created a Lavazza dessert called ‘Playful’ but I thought
why not have a whole playful menu. So Reif created a 5 course Lavazza
Experience – a caviar course, cep mushrooms, wagyu etc with Lavazza beans.
Still needed more and reached out to Michelin-Starred Chef Paco Pérez who came
up with two outstanding plates – Gnocchis de Boletus Edulis y Café Lavazza
(Penny Bun and Lavazza Coffee Gnocchi) and Ferrero & Lavazza.”
‘Coffee Absolute Gastronomy’, he said, was a comprehensive
showcase of what can be achieved with this singular ingredient.
On the difference in approach between the east and the west in
terms of approaching coffee, he said, “Coffee actually came from the East yet
it popularity has spread and may have won the West… it’s estimated that around
2.25 billion cups of coffee is consumed every day, it’s the second most traded
commodity in the world and the world’s coffee drinkers come from the West,
however brands have been introducing this coffee culture to the East and it has
been catching up. “As I did want to showcase chefs from around the world, this
book journeyed from Curitiba in Brazil to Sydney, Australia—from Africa there
was one, 17 from Asia, 18 from Europe, 1 each from Oceania, North and South
America and I am proud to have Vineet Bhatia, a dear friend and the first
Indian chef to be awarded a Michelin star, on ‘Coffee Absolute Gastronomy’. In
the next book ‘Legacy’, which was released on October 8, 2019, I have Vineet
Bhatia, Saradhi Dakar from Dubai and Niyati Rao from Mumbai.”
Asked
what next he smiled and said he had plans to do a book on Indian street food
culture, with Vineet Bhatia covering North to South of India and a book on Goan
Cuisine. The book on Goan Cuisine will revive grandmothers’, mothers’ and
aunties’ recipes, which seem to have been lost with this modern culture. One
can only hope for more awards to this rather enterprising son of Goa.
