“What’s the point of Genesis – have you figured it out yet?” a colleague asks me on the first day.
It’s only the beginning, but I’ve already caught a glimpse of it: a feeling more than an idea, something intangible yet intense, that envelops you straight away. I smile, because there isn’t a simple answer. Genesis is not just a food event – it’s a community that recognises itself and gathers again, year after year, to share experiences and to be together.
The setting is the Dolomites, majestic and silent, embracing everything with their ancient presence. A landscape that holds your breath, sharpening every moment, as if the mountains themselves were teaching you how to truly look. Welcoming us are Ludovica Rubbini and Riccardo Gaspari: guardians of these peaks, creators of the project and, yes, restaurateurs – but above all hosts who open the doors of their world for a few days. Here, in Cortina d’Ampezzo, far from the glamorous sheen that made it famous, another face emerges: authentic, intimate, and rooted in genuine hospitality. And, as every year, Genesis brings the world to Cortina.
From the French capital to Baja California, people gathered here without barriers or formality. Different ages, different places, brought together by the invitation to rediscover the deep connections that tie food, landscape, and culture. Among them was George McLeod, New Zealand–born and now chef patron of SEM in Lisbon; formerly at Silo in London and, ça va sans dire, an unrelenting forager and fermenter. At the first welcome dinner, with candles flickering in the barn of Malga Giau, he brought his vision and his technique, immersing himself in the ecosystem and working with the elements of the surrounding nature – with dishes such as his Forest Broth, which already seemed to hold the key to Genesis 2025.
Ecosystem, in fact, was the theme of this fifth edition. A word dense with meaning, closely intertwined with the idea of balance, because “an ecosystem only works if there is balance”, Ludovica explains. Over the days of Genesis the concept was explored in all its forms: natural, of course, but also human, productive, and creative. A continuous weave, where value emerged not in the single gesture but in the collective chorus.
And it was in the shared meals that this vision became tangible: communal tables, different kitchens, voices weaving together in dishes as much as in stories. Like the four-hands dinner at SanBrite, where Riccardo Gaspari welcomed David Castro Hussong and Maribel Aldaco Silva (from Fauna, which we featured in Cook_inc. 36), building a bridge between Baja California and the Dolomites. A harmonious dinner, gracefully moving from the Smoked quail with chile mixe mayonnaise to the Mezze maniche with butter and 24-month mountain Parmigiano Reggiano. Two distant worlds that, for one evening, spoke the same language.
From the international breath of Genesis, the journey shifted to more local experiences, yet no less powerful. Like the one brought by Anna Vendramini and Lorenzo Torresan of Nidaba, heirs to a story that spans generations. A historic spot in Montebelluna and among the first to import craft beer to Italy, the duo have held onto that original spirit and now channel it naturally into both their dishes and their glasses.
The sea reached the mountains with Jacopo Ticchi of Da Lucio, who lit the fire for a dinner under the stars: a cuisine alive and blazing, carrying his most distinctive signature – fish – reimagined through smoke and flame.
Then back abroad with Manon Fleury and Laurène Barjhoux of Datil in Paris, who crafted a plant-focused, ethical lunch in the highlands, precise like a piece of embroidery. With elegance and harmony they plated outdoors, on the terrace of El Brite de Larieto, moving like a dance, with the Ampezzo Dolomites and the Cortina valley as their stage.
In a setting like this, nature isn’t just scenery – it’s substance, a constant presence. Between meals we set out along the trails (“today’s one is easy,” they seem to say every year), followed a local guide for a “lesson” in fishing at the Ciou del Conte dam, and on the final night slept in tents beneath the stars, with a yoga session at sunrise. I still can’t decide which was more magical: the darkness of night, with the tiny lights of the camp glowing like something out of a fairytale, or the morning, opening our eyes beneath the grandeur of the peaks. The cold was quickly forgotten – chased away by Negronis in the evening and coffee in the morning – immersed in those convivial moments that define every beat of Genesis.
But Genesis would not be complete without a moment devoted to creativity. With Jacopo Di Cera we explored new perspectives, using photography as a language to capture and recount the experience. Then we rolled up our sleeves with Giulia Tosato and her TOCIO bakery team, transforming Ambrosoli flour and honey into bread: a gesture as simple and ancient as it is concrete and powerful. The next morning, at sunrise, we found their creations again in a vibrant spread of sweet and savory, the final meal shared before our goodbyes.
Waiting for the transfer and breathing in the mountain air as if trying to hold onto it a little longer, I shared a final moment with Ludovica. Despite the intense days of coordinating and managing an event curated down to the smallest detail and carried out to perfection, her smile was still intact. With her I confirmed the intuition that had been with me from the start: Genesis is far more than an event – it is a moment to restart and to exchange visions, with people always at its heart.
Meanwhile, some of the staff were unloading the last pieces of equipment from the mountain camp, while others were setting the table and preparing the staff meal. The closing of Genesis, behind the scenes, is by tradition a meal shared among those who made it possible. With that final plate of pasta, the circle closes, ready to open again, carrying with it the strength of a community and the delicacy of a feeling that cannot quite be explained.
Essential to the success of the event was the renewed support of the “Element Sponsors”: Pastificio Felicetti, Parmigiano Reggiano, and Ambrosoli. Equally important was the collaboration of the “Technical Sponsor Plus” partners — Illycaffè, Birra Forst, Herita Marzotto Wine Estates, and Bonaventura Maschio — as well as the “Technical Sponsors”: Scarpa, Alpe Pragas, Dolomia, Itas Assicurazioni, La Cooperativa di Cortina, RISO, Abimis, Italesse, and Murphy & Nye.
