Basic Risotto

Species snobbery is tiresome. The gastronomic approbation of the arcane, the artisanal, the local, the AOC, the sustainable, the scarce and the contempt for ‘wasteful’ air miles is frivolous: it’s conventionalised fashion posing as ethical concern. Lives depend on the export of beans from Africa to a continent whose eaters preach seasonality but can’t bear midwinter without strawberries and peaches.

Carnaroli, Vialone Nano and Baldo are, in that order, the most coveted varieties of