The incredible story of chef Christian Milone, who had to learn the cuisine from scratch after an accident removed his memory

Christian Milone, a star chef, had a characteristics. I say it to the reason sold: we were friends, and we also worked on some event together, years ago. But, beyond the affection, it remains that Christian had one of those difficult characterswho know how to be rather typical in those who spend entire days closed within the walls of the kitchen, obsessed with the idea of ​​achieving the only goal for which a chef of that level rises in the morning: the Michelin star (or the stars). A widespread obsession, that of success in high catering, whose psychophysical consequences we start to speak, finally.

But Christian Milone, Chef of the Trattoria Zappatori, a Michelin star in Pinerolo, in the province of Turinto tell the truth another passion in life has always had it, in addition to that for the kitchen. The one for the bicyclewho had also led him to run In the most prestigious races, the Giro d’Italiabefore choosing to dedicate soul and heart to the family restaurant, with the aim of bringing him up, in the most high, with his gastronomic vision. The cyclist chef called him alland sometimes he sometimes bother you, because he seemed to distract attention from his skills in the kitchen, the one that led him in 2016 to take his first Michelin star.

The accident

And it was the bike that changed the life of Chef Milone. On June 8, 2022 Christian leaves the house riding his bicycle, as he does almost every morning. A tour that serves to lighten ideas, and also to keep his first love alive, that for cycling. But that day, however, it does not have time almost to move away from home: It is out of a few tens of minutes when it is invested, at high speed, on the provincial road. He, he says, remembers having had one last thought, looking at the road, on the path he was doing. Then, nothing more. Total darkness.

The accident appears immediately terrible, as well as the conditions of the chef, who is transported urgently to the hospital, while his family is notified that the situation is really very serious. Difficult to give hope, given the situation. And, as happens in these cases, the only thing to do is wait, and see how the patient reacts. Will it survive? And then: he will walk, will understand, will talk, will he move?

Christian Milone evidently reacted, also thanks to the help of the medical team that followed him. He remained in a coma a month and a half. He suffered three shoulder intervention attempts, before the doctors finally managed to reconstruct it. Plus a delicate intervention to the cranial cap, who left him fifty stitches. “They practically took my skull and reconstructed everything, like puzzle, with the pieces they managed to find”joke now, without going too far from the truth. Three very long months pass, in those who remain in the hospital. He has to rehabilitate himself, learn to walk, eat, speak again. And remember. Because that crash, and everything that has been later, created a gigantic black out.

“When I went home, I returned to my cuisine, and it was as if I had never been there before,” he says. «I did not remember anything, yet I had to be able to confirm my Michelin star, to guarantee a future for my project, which in those months had risked going to pieces. But I didn’t know where to start again ».

Rebirth

The chef starts again. He enters the kitchen, and tries to look for his memories. Part of his staff is still there, and it is his historical memory. He explains to him, he teaches him, and every input helps him to remember. How to prepare a plin. How the ingredients are treated. What they smell, what flavor they have, how they match. Christian says he had like small epiphanies, as the memories resurfaced to mind.

In a time that seems incredibly short, Milone gets back on his feet. It reconstructs his menu, his room, his dishes. But something has changed forever. Christian Milone no longer gets angry, even if caused (I tried, to make him angry, before convincing me that he was not pretending). Listen, he confronts, takes time. He smiles, even. Of that characteristics he had, there seems to be nothing more, as if anger, anxiety, exasperated competitiveness were also thrown away from the bicycle that day. “I’m alive. All the rest, at this point, goes into the background ».

Which does not mean that the cuisine no longer has the priority: Milone has rediscovered it a second time, showing that It was more instinct that knowledge of moving his hand. The ingredients have been reserved (so as to experiment with new tasting paths that revolve around a single raw material). Has renovated his ancient recipes, which today return to his menu, In a cuisine that seems to be more sincere, but also more serene. Probably not creative at extreme levels, but calm, quiet, good. A cuisine that really reflects the mood of the chef. The plin prepared with their broth in the coffee siphon, which collects all the aromas in a small magic that takes place in the room. Field herbs, knife beaten, calfskin tuna: casually (or maybe not), The Tradition of the Tradition of Trattoria Zappatori is perfectly embeds with a sort of new trend of the high catering that returns to the origins and simplicity. And that for Christian Milone clearly represents the beginning of his rebirth.