20DOCUMENTARY

Year: 2025
CAST: Mauro Illiano, Andrej Godina

Coffee experts Mauro Illiano and Andrej Godina embark on a new adventure: after clearing prejudices about the beloved drink, eradicating the concept of an energy pill consumed distractedly, they try to give coffee an unusual identity. The two stage a gastro-social experiment, making focus groups an integral part of an epochal change, which distances itself from the gastronomic culture of our country. Starting from Naples, Mauro and Andrej will kick off the experiment by asking teenagers and young adults – who usually consume coffee from vending machines in high schools and universities – “what is the perfect match”. The most varied answers will correspond to this question, not necessarily related to food. They will therefore be given a blindfold and, deprived of their sight, they will taste coffee with savoury finger food. Their reactions of surprise and dismay will mark the turning point, the beginning of the change. Via social media, we will open a free call to undergo a blind experiment and, after a selection, we will have a group of 15 people as heterogeneous as possible. Mauro and Andrej will be accompanied by a local host or chef to discover native products, to first of all enhance an idea of sustainable 0 km catering, transforming participants and viewers into more aware consumers. After having selected and tasted a series of local products, our people, accompanied by the protagonist of the episode, will carry out tasting experiments: a real gastronomic study. The Chef will create various traditional recipes and our experts will try to match us with a coffee that is enhance the dish thus giving it a new life. When the guests arrive, after a short interview, they will be accompanied into the room, where a single table awaits them – an expedient that induces people to chat and share – the table will be set on one side only, so that no one can turn their back to the other and in such a way that, at the entrance, Mauro and Andrej have all the diners head-on. In order not to disturb and tense the diners during the experience, the cameras and microphones will be hidden and invisible to the participants. Once the dinner is over, the participants will take stock in a new interview and will be asked if the introduction of a coffee list to be combined with a tasting menu could be functional. Once the material has been collected, the group will leave for Cagliari so as to be able to repeat the experiment, trying to associate coffees with local foods, and so on with Turin, Rome, Trieste, Milan. The experiment will end with a menu made up of all the most popular dishes, to celebrate the journey made.