Who is chef Mory Sacko guest of Masterchef Italia 13

It would be nice to think that haute cuisine doesn't look at skin color. Or the sex of someone who cooks, for example. And instead the data tells of a world, that of fine dining, in which there are still very few black chefs who have starred and/or reached the highest levels, just as there are fewer (although growing) women. Of course, there's the fact that the Michelin Guide doesn't have a Caribbean or African edition. But there are chefs, in Europe or in the United States, who are bringing the flavors of their origins mixing them with culinary traditions and techniques. Just to give an example of the never-too-fast change, we can mention Adejoké Bakare, the UK's first black Michelin-starred chefwith his Chishuru in London.

Or – and it is one of the great cultural-culinary gifts that often Masterchef Italy knows how to do it – Mory Sacko, chef of Malian-Senegalese origin who confidently drives his very popular car in the 14th arrondissement of Paris MoSuke, a restaurant where he blends the flavors of West Africa and the East – his great passion – with French technique.

Born in 1992, Mory Sacko is – like Angelina Mango or Marco Mengoni, just to make extra culinary comparisons – son of a generation that grows up in talent. In 2019 he participated in the French edition of Top Chef, and from there his culinary rise began. Even before that, however, Mory Sacko had worked at the Hôtel du Collectionneur as a commis, and then at Le Royal Monceau, alongside Nobu Matsuhisa, falling in love with Japanese cuisine. In 2020 Sacko opens his restaurant, whose name is a declaration of intent: MoSuke is in fact a portmanteau of his name and that of Yasukethe first and only African samurai in Japan.

Son of a large family (he has eight brothers and thirteen grandchildren), Mory Sacko has won over Parisians with a cuisine that is both sincere and creative, generous and refined. But above all, representative of the new generations. “French society is evolving,” he said in an interview. «There are many young people like me who are French but who have different origins and are proud of it. The palates are ready, the mentalities are ready, to welcome a cuisine like mine.”

Among its most identifying dishes, the oshizushi of arctic char, cucumber, dill and beurre blanc flavored with vin jaune or Breton sole with attiéké , a cassava semolina fermented with natural acidity, typical street food of the Ivory Coast. Dishes that tell the story of the acquisition of European culinary techniques, without ever forgetting its origins. On the other hand, his Madeleine Proustian remains the Thiakrya Senegalese dessert made with millet semolina and yogurt, and his favorite dish is Chicken Yassa, a typically African chicken with rice.

With this philosophy, Mory Sacko has come far, all the way to Saint-Tropez, on the French Riviera, where in 2022 was chosen by Louis Vuitton to lead the kitchen of his very chic restaurant inside the luxurious Hotel White 1921.

«If you are capable of bringing your personality into the kitchen, you are already halfway therebecause personality is what adds something truly unique to the kitchen”, is the advice that Mory Sacko gave to the young aspiring Masterchefs of Italy, before presenting his Boeuf mafé. A precious piece of advice, which the four remaining finalists will have to learn to treasure.