00:01Giuliano Baldessari pulls on this latex outfit not for a fetish club, but rather for work.
00:10The latex suit has helped me a lot, especially at work. Food is even more intimate than sex.
00:17Like the chef's suit, the menu is also unique. Uncommon taste experiences and some rather exotic ingredients are in store for patrons of his restaurant.
00:26This powder is from a fungus that grows on insects. Tastes wonderful.
00:33Why does he wear a latex suit while cooking? And where does this chef get his ideas?
00:40Giuliano Baldessari has been running the Acqua Crua restaurant outside Vicenza, northern Italy since 2014.
00:48He realized early on that he had a rather extraordinary sense of taste and a passion for cooking.
00:53He learned his craft from various starred chefs in Italy and France.
01:00But his career path hasn't always been a smooth one.
01:04Giuliano was a rebellious young man who faced problems in school and at home.
01:09All my life I've been hyperactive and unable to concentrate. In the kitchen, too, I drive my co-workers nuts. I have one idea, then a second later I've got a completely different one.
01:21Often he finds the piece he needs to concentrate in nature.
01:28Early in the morning he gathers blossoms, herbs, roots, mushrooms and wild vegetables for his cooking.
01:35This not only guarantees intense flavors, but it's sustainable as well.
01:39A close friend led him to the full body latex suit in 2015 as a way to counteract sensory overload.
01:47It's usually a sex fetish, but I don't use it for that. I only use it to cook in.
01:54The latex suit helps me limit my senses and concentrate on the flavor.
01:59To me it's like a therapy.
02:01I feel nothing, hear nothing, and smell just a little. But I can see and taste. And that's what it's all about.
02:16That helps Giuliano develop what he calls his taste provocations, and these have earned him a Michelin star every year since 2016.
02:26Italian classics like Spaghetti are among them, but with a twist.
02:29The miso sauce is made from noodles that, like miso itself, have been fermented.
02:36It smells strongly of beer and fermentation because it takes at least four years to ferment. And then we make the pasta from that.
02:48The Acqua Crua restaurant is in a remote village in Italy's Veneto region, but its patrons come from all over Italy curious about the latex chef.
02:57A 16 course meal can cost 175 euros.
03:02The chef here is someone very special. His dishes too. And we wanted to try them. Very unusual.
03:07The fact that the chef wears latex makes the dining experience more interesting and extravagant.
03:17For the extra adventurous diner, an advanced menu offers beef fillet inoculated with mold fungus and matured for four months at 20 degrees Celsius.
03:28The latex chef develops these daring creations in collaboration with nutrition experts.
03:33The risotto is just as off the wall. A powder made of plankton gives it an intense flavor.
03:40Tortellini from a drain pipe is especially challenging, both to savor and to hear while eating it.
03:46Only afterwards does the chef reveal what it was.
03:53It's eel ravioli with butter, prepared with biodynamic compost.
03:59The eel comes from the Saragossa Sea and tastes a bit like mud. An incredible contrast.
04:04When patrons go to eat in a Michelin-starred restaurant, they're looking for something out of the ordinary.
04:12With me, they're in the right place. My meals are like a journey.
04:18We have three menus, but the guest has to start with the first one to be initiated into our world.
04:23In the beginning, Giuliano pulled on his latex suit in secret. He felt embarrassed.
04:31The latex chef moniker has since become a kind of trademark, even if he didn't plan it that way.
04:37It has nothing to do with marketing. I don't want that. I don't like marketing.
04:43I only do this to immerse myself and experience the flavors of my ingredients to the extreme.
04:48Even so, he does plan to have the nickname Latex Chef registered as a trademark.
04:57After all, Giuliano Baldessari is probably the world's only professional chef who cooks this way.
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