Alessandro Porcelli On 'Cook It Raw'

There are countless numbers of food festivals across the world where chefs can get out of their kitchens and interact with the dining public. Yet despite the fact that many of these events also bring many leading chefs to the same city, they rarely get the chance to interact in a meaningful way. From this, the idea for Cook It Raw was born. Alessandro Porcelli had wanted to create an event that brought chefs together in a collaborative way, and so he had the idea of creating an annual gathering that celebrated creativity. Cook It Raw was kept small and has now occurred annually since 2009 with chefs as varied as René Redzepi, Massimo Bottura, David Chang, and Sean Brock.

Yet because it needed to remain intimate, there was little opportunity for the public to get involved or to also learn from the chef's collaborations. And so Porcelli set out to create a book that encapsulated the experience. Also called Cook It Raw, the book, allows people inside the event without compromising the goals of the event. "It was one of my initial thoughts about how we can actually get a larger audience by being small and intimate," he says. "We have to create an environment where chefs felt comfortable, where they felt that they could fail together, they could share ideas, they could grow together."

For more from Porcelli, watch the video above and make sure to pick up Cook It Raw!