FLAVIO FEDERICO
He knows the flavors of his country as nobody else does, also the aromas, and the ingredients of an under-exported gastronomy. And he handles them by using the modern techniques he learned while receiving his training at l’École Lenôtre (in Paris, France) and while working together with other professionals acclaimed in their countries and overseas. That was a really beneficial combination and with surprising results.
HIS CREATIONS, MADE WITH PRODUCTS SUCH AS CUPUAÇU, CAJÁ, CACHAÇA, CORNMEAL, ETC., HAVE THEIR OWN IDENTITY AND PERSONALITY AND LINK MODERNITY TO TRADITION. Flavio Federico is one of the most refined and renowned chefs in Brazil. He was born to an Italian family settled in São Paulo, and when he was only six years old he made his own desserts. Nowadays, he runs Sódoces, an innovative and exclusive firm from which he offers his 100% artisan sweets and his natural bonbons and ice cream. Federico performs his duties in an active and selfless way. He has been chosen to update the traditional Brazilian recipes with a contemporary mind and with the responsibility to respect his people’s essence and gastronomic heritage. Sódoces. Sao Paulo. Brasil / www.flaviofederico.blogspot.com
Why did you decide to become a pastry chef? I’m from an Italian family and grew up next to the stove alongside my grandmother, who was a fantastic cook. Not surprisingly, as a child, I always preferred sweets and pastries instead of savory dishes. I can remember always asking to exchange my salted dishes for chocolates and dulce de leche each meal. At the age of 17, my friends began asking me to make cakes and pastries for their birthdays. After making and selling many cakes for parties, I knew I didn’t want to stop. From then on, I was in love with seeing how happy people were when they were eating good pastries. What do you find most fascinating in your job? To me, I am fascinated to find new flavorful ways that bring smiles to people’s faces. It’s amazing how powerful this sensation is. I can’t think of a better job than one which creates happiness and smiles when people gather together to eat. How do you define your desserts? My desserts are sophisticated, contemporary and express creative, new combinations of traditional Brazilian recipes focusing on the use of our local tropical ingredients. After more than 16 years of developing these unique combinations, our business has become recognized as a creative leader in Brazil. Each day, we continue to reach people from other countries and they always tell us how amazed they
are at the amount of original flavors available only locally to those in South America. What is the most important thing in the pastry trade? I believe a chef ’s main purpose is to make people happy and provide wonderful food to the customer. This is the main reason that should motivate you. We are not movie stars. If your primary ambition is to look for TV appearances or magazine coverage, you will lose your focus of making good food. What do you think about the future of artisan pastrymaking? My opinion is that artisan pastry still has a lot of room to grow because nobody has made a machine to create perfect pastries. Of course, you can find automatic gadgets to pipe macaroons and other things but you still need someone to create the combination of flavors and colors. I’m the one who thinks the creative spirit is our engine and nobody can reproduce this with computers and steel, at least not yet. At the same time, I am not saying you should ignore technical improvements.Those improvements are being created to help reduce our manual work in the kitchen.This in turn gives us more time to think about creative ideas.There is still a massive universe of unexplored flavors and ingredients no one has tried before.
131
so good..