Vegetables transformed into stories by Schingaro and Giordano

The olive wood tables already smell delicious. When the cards are dealt out across them, it becomes clear that the gastronomic stakes are high. Domingo Schingaro, the chef from Bari at Due Camini, invites guests to choose directly from those colourful cards bearing the names of vegetables – from peppers and aubergines, to lettuce and tomatoes, right through to the Fabaceae, Solanaceae and Asteraceae families, to name but a few. The floral dice has been cast. The adventure that follows will win over the hearts and palates even of those who are not yet convinced by the superb variety and freedom of plant-based cuisine. For example, the roasted purple aubergine from Ostuni, the chickpea hummus with tarragon, and the cacioricotta rice with plums are enough to justify Domingo Schingaro’s Michelin star – a star destined for a far brighter constellation. For the cuisine at Due Camini represents the realisation of the dream of a virtually ‘zero-metre’ kitchen, given that its vegetable garden lies just beyond the cooking stoves: it is tended by the agronomist and seed hunter Angelo Giordano, who has inspired local growers to set up the ‘Casa dei Semi’ (House of Seeds), a place where healthy practices for producing plants with ancient genetics or from distant hemispheres are brought together (such as the Amazonian Acmella oleracea, Bolivian basil, and 233 varieties of tomato, including the ‘champagne’ variety) which are then planted in the neighbouring fields, serving simultaneously as an encyclopaedia and a hub for the exchange of rural knowledge and flavours, free from chemicals, and always available to anyone wishing to learn about these hybridisations based on solid bibliographic research conducted in collaboration with the University of Bari and on well-established experience in the Apulian countryside. The seeds are produced and harvested, with a focus on species that require low water content.