i would just show up with one of my cakes and say, oh, this is for you. right. you became obsessive. yeah, obsessive. yes. over the last few years, nino s obsession has driven him to turn this remote area into his culinary playground. so this is where you do your foraging? yeah. i used to walk along the river and then go also higher into the mountain. uh-huh. but here you can find a lot of special things. this is the water mint. it s wild and has a strong citrus taste, orange taste. yeah. you know that once i poisoned myself. so this is safe? no, this is safe. i m gonna make it through. right? yeah, yeah. what did you poison yourself with? what was it?
yeah. i start only make pastry. so if you invite myself to a dinner yeah. i would just show up with one of my cakes and say, oh, this is for you. right. you became obsessive. yeah, obsessive. yes. over the last few years, nino s obsession has driven him to turn this remote area into his culinary playground. so this is where you do your foraging? yeah. i used to walk along the river and then go also higher into the mountain. uh-huh. but here you can find a lot of special things. this is the water mint. it s wild and has a strong citrus taste, orange taste. yeah. you know that once i poisoned myself. so this is safe? no, this is safe. i m gonna make it through. right? yeah, yeah. what did you poison yourself with? what was it? with the crocus. and i thought it was white garlic. and it was really
with the crocus. and i thought it was white garlic. and it was really yes, that can be very bad for you, i ve heard. yeah, yeah, but i studied a lot. that s good. and i pretty know everything about this place. right. from the upper part, we take the silver fir. i show you. it s just a fir tree? white fir. yeah, it s nice. really aromatic. yeah. i love it. so should we go cook? yeah, i m gonna cook for you. all right. nino s restaurant, qafiz, is a love letter to the aspromonte and the unique and undiscovered ingredients that can be found only here on the mountain. today, he s preparing me a dish that has helped cement his michelin star, a dessert called fire. this is a meringue.
yes, that can be very bad for you, i ve heard. yeah, yeah, but i studied a lot. that s good. and i pretty know everything about this place. right. from the upper part, we take the silver fir. i show you. it s just a fir tree? white fir. yeah, it s nice. really aromatic. yeah. i love it. so should we go cook? yeah, i m gonna cook for you. all right. nino s restaurant, qafiz, is a love letter to the aspromonte and the unique and undiscovered ingredients that can be found only here on the mountain. today, he s preparing me a dish that has helped cement his michelin star, a dessert called fire. this is a meringue. so it s just egg white and sugar? yeah. we put this vegetable carbon powder. so this is just charcoal? yeah.
all the southern part of calabria is just surrounded by aspromonte. nino rossi has been living and working out here since 2016, making food that celebrates the unique biodiversity of this mountain. and this land s been in your family for many generations? i think we are sixth generation. did you grow up here? i grew up in rome. but i ve never stopped being a calabrian child. growing up in a well-to-do family a thousand miles away from here, nino s keen interest in traditional calabrian cooking came as a bit of a surprise to his friends and family. you didn t train as a chef? i am a self-taught chef. but at the same time, in the past, i had opportunity to learn from an ancient housekeeper. yeah. called maria. yeah. and that way, i got all the cuisine from the people. yeah, of course. then i put all the things together and i start just experimenting. once i would like to learn how to make pastry.