Let’s be honest, for us at Wakapedia it was a big shock when we heard about the passing of one of our favorite interviewees.

An illustrious chef, who was not only a great teacher but also like a grandfather whom we loved very much. Not only to us, but certainly to many others out there. The great chef GUALTIERO MARCHESI will always be remembered for his creativity and talent.

The “Gualtiero Marchesi and La Grande Cucina Italiana World Tour”, a show in homage to the great Italian chef who died in December 2017, ended in Milan on the 19^thof March 2019 – what would have been his 89^thbirthday.The Wakapedia team, big fans of the chef’s gastronomy, met him for an interview back in YEAR(the article here) and we have been fascinated by his story and his passion for cooking and for art (which basically was the same thing for him, ed). Therefore we couldn’t miss the Japan stage of his honourary World tour that started in November 2018 in the US and included several international stops, involving 28 chefs who have revived the marvelous culinary creations of Marchesi across the world.

Last December in Japan, we attended an evening organised by the Italian Cultural Institute of Tokyo by the Gualtiero Marchesi Foundation – which created the tour in collaboration with ENIT (National Tourism Agency). The evening’s programme included a delicious menu inspired by Marchesi’s most famous dishes, reimagined with ingredients and techniques borrowed from Japanese cuisine (such as the excellent Milanese wagyu fillet with saffron cream! Ed). For this occasion, the 12 course “Gualtiero Marchesi Masterpiece” menu was created by the chef, Antonio Ghilardi, together with Luca Fantin ofBulgari Il Ristorante Tokyo, and Simone Cantafio of Michel Bras Toya Japon (Hokkaido).

During this evening, which also celebrated the end of the Italian Cooking Week in Tokyo, the documentary film “Gualtiero – The Great Italian” was shown, a project realised thanks to the support of four “Made in Italy” brands of excellence in the areas of food and wine – Cantine Ferrari, Illycaffè, Parmigiano Reggiano and S. Pellegrino – who decided to collaborate in this tribute to a “Great Italian”, a pillar of the “Bel Paese” kitchen.

The film is a two-year journey with chef Marchesi, filmed by director Maurizio Gigola between Italy, France and Japan (What more could you ask for? As international as Wakapedia! Ed.). Eighty minutes of interviews with the most famous international chefs (Massimo Bottura, Alain Ducasse, Marc Haeberlin, Carlo Cracco, Andrea Berton, Pietro Leemann, Davide Oldani and more …) show how much Gualtiero Marchesi was loved and respected by chefs the world over… France included!!

It was an exciting moment, and that made us feel privileged to have met him, to have joked and smiled with him, to have discussed with him about cooking, culture, and so much more… And in the end, for us, the great Gualtiero Marchesi will always live on through his dishes.