Summer, Michelin-starred chef: the "Invert Carbo" meal, a reversed meal, to beat the heat

“It's always best to include carbohydrates at the end of a meal, as vegetables and proteins are more easily assimilated. This way, you can then eat pasta or rice, feeling less heavy and facilitating digestion,” says Michelin- starred chef Matteo Vergine , Best Young Chef, and owner, along with his brother Riccardo (maître d' and sommelier), of Grow , the only Michelin-starred restaurant in Italy to offer a game-based menu year-round. Grow stands out for its trappeur- inspired cuisine, based on simplicity, nature, and cooking over an open fire.

With over 23 kg consumed per capita and over 4 million tons produced annually, pasta is one of Italy's mainstays of food, but even more so of culture. 96.6% of Italians surveyed considered it an "undisputed symbol of Italianness" (Unione Italiana Food). A staple of the Mediterranean diet, a source of complex carbohydrates, a staple, cross-sectional, and interregional staple, pasta has always been a staple on Italian tables.

But if pasta is eaten at the end of a meal, after vegetables, fiber, and protein, rather than at the beginning, as every Italian is wont to do, it also helps with satiety and proper digestion. This healthy habit is even more useful in the run-up to summer and the inevitable record-breaking heat, as it serves as an effective "anti-drowsy" method to avoid further bloating after lunch.

" The ideal sequence for a meal ," suggests chef Matteo Vergine, " which is what we currently offer on our menus, should begin with a light entrée, primarily based on vegetables, or a light, fresh broth. Then, we begin introducing the protein component. We're biased and obviously lean toward game, a meat that, it's always worth noting, has more protein and up to twenty times less fat than farmed meat, weight for weight. And only at the end do we introduce the carbohydrate component, whether pasta or rice , which we grill."

"Choosing this dietary sequence is simple ," explains Riccardo Vergine of Grow . " The order in which foods are consumed can reduce and slow the rise in blood sugar levels after a meal , especially when carbohydrates arrive in the stomach after fiber, protein, and fat have already been ingested. What we do is apply physiology to cooking. This way, we can achieve digestive benefits, particularly with slower gastric emptying, more diluted glucose absorption, and a more favorable hormonal response that stimulates satiety signals and modulates the insulin response."