and I have to say I've not filled TechTalk like this in the year I've been at Google.

So, note to self, Mario, you are invited to every one of our media platforms or hands

meetings from here on forward. So, I first met Mario in 2001 and at the time, a reservation

at Babbo was the toughest reservation to get in New York City. At the time I think he had

three restaurants-- is that right?-- and had published two books. Ten years later, Babbo

is still the toughest ticket in town, which in and of itself is no small feat in a city

known for fickle foodies, but in addition, Mario has, I think, 15 restaurants today.

I'm getting the thumbs up. Fifteen restaurants today, published eight books, television shows,

vineyard, charitable foundation and the latest addition to-- I think the latest addition,

unless I'm out of date-- to the Mario Batali empire has been the Android App, and that's

what he's here to talk about today. As a tribute to Mario, I think everybody knows that all

chefs at Hemispheres are doing a set of Mario Batali inspired dishes for lunch. So, after

this, be sure to head up there and join us for lunch. I just wanna read you something

from Mario's official bio. And it says," At the root of Mario's success is his passion

and respect for all of the great tastes and traditions of Italian cooking, combined with

an insatiable desire to experience and experiment. This magical combination of passion, education,

and chutzpah is on display every night at his extremely popular restaurants, and evident

in his books and TV shows."

Well, last night I watched Mario's last appearance at Google on YouTube and I want to say that

Mario, you have broken a Google record. He was on record as being the outside speaker

to have used the f word more than anybody else in a 45 minute presentation. So, I'm

certain he's not gonna disappoint this time. Mario, I have to say it is f-ing good to have

you back.

[laughter]

Please join me in welcoming Chef Mario Batali.

[applause]

>>Mario Batali: Good afternoon, everybody. I'm sure you'll be slightly disappointed that

with a 12 year old and a 14 year old, I've changed my rating from R to PG.

[laughter]

So, I only say "fuck" when it's really essential, which sometimes is and sometimes isn't. I'm

here today in support of the launch of the Android App that I have. It is, if you've

ever watched the old Food Network's show called "Molto Mario", which is on now on the Cooking

Channel I think at 4:30 in the morning.

[laughter]

Maybe it's 4:42 just to challenge you. No, I think it's like 7:30 or 8:00. What it is,

is a straight-forward, very direct demonstration of what really good Italian technique, how

simple it is, how much it's based on shopping. And, as opposed to a lot of the other Apps,

which are virtually cookbooks translated to the page, this I actually walk through each

of the dishes, just as if I'm in the kitchen with you. And the idea is to empower you to

feel that you can actually watch it. There's a thousand features which we're gonna demo

in a few minutes that describe and display how you can use it in the very complicated

world of multitasking, how we can use all of the tricks and treatments to make it happen.

But what it's really fundamentally about is understanding that people, in addition to

wanting to go out to be entertained by food, that what they really wanna do is understand

their food, they wanna love their food and they wanna know about their food.

Thirty years ago, you became a cook, not a chef, right after you got out of the military

and some time before you went to jail.

[laughter]

And that's because cooking at that time was the lowest common denominator job. Anybody

could peel a potato, anybody could start in a kitchen, and effectively work in a diner

in any town or in the military-- or in prison--cooking food. Our fascination with food came as a

result of our fascination with our health, our understanding of our health, our fascination

with the things that give us pleasure. And I must say, I'm quite pleased to say that

whereas 30 years ago you might go out to get a bite and then go to the game or go to the

opera and then get a bite, or go to a concert or a museum and get something to eat on the

way, at this point now amongst many of the people in this room, the bite is actually

the central part of our evening or our afternoon. And it's our obsession and our pride and our

understanding, as well as our internationalization in our super Suave' Bolla way that we travel

around the world and look for things that make us happy, that food has come to the center

of the plate, as it were. Subsequent to that, of course, cooks became a little bit more

successful. And it's in no short, it's not to short it, but I think that although cooks

have enjoyed a certain little bit of fame, eventually the next rock stars aren't gonna

be cooks. It's gonna be farmer's [looks to the left and sighs] and fishermen because

eventually you'll realize that no matter how much technique there is and how many bams

there is or how many squirt bottles there is, or all of those other things, effectively

what really is the biggest decision is you're going to make are going to be on what you

buy and how you source it and where you get it. So, there's also shopping parts in this

app, but I think the real understanding is to make something delicious, you really have

to buy something that has a point of view. And it's that kind of slow-food mentality,

that kind of searching for biodiversity that is what I really try to represent at this

point. I don't know if any of you have heard about this little grocery store I opened up

called Eataly on 23rd Street. But if you walk in there there's a, there's a huge component

of it is slogans. It's allowing people to understand that it's one little bite of information

that will allow you to really get your hands on what a great tangerine is, or why you eat

this kind of spaghetti or what kind of oil this is. And it's not really about Italian

food. It's about the micro-regional components of Italian food and American ingredients as

well, cooked into that world that make it so satisfying to do and so delicious and also

nutritious for you. So, this app has all of that rolled into it and what it really is

about is empowering you to understand that you can cook just like I can, almost as good

as some of the great grandmothers from Italy. And that's the objective behind this is to

remove a little bit more of the veil, to look a little bit behind the curtain, but effectively

watch and learn how to cook the kind of things that I do, as well as use it just for entertainment.

I mean, it's just kind of fun to watch someone who seems to know what they're doing, doing

what they do pretty good. And that's why I'm here to do it. Now, I'm gonna introduce Matt

Bardin, who's my partner in this, who understands all the technology of it. Basically, I stood

up in front of a camera for about five days and we shot 85 videos, which is a good little

clip, and we had a good time. So, Matt, why don't you show us about how to use this Android

App?

>>Matt Bardin: Ok. So, let's, this is the home screen of the app. Actually, maybe we'll

start with -- no, that's good. And the main feature, navigationally, is this--

>>Mario Batali: Hold on. Lemme interrupt one second. If there is any questions at all time,

it can be, we can just go right ahead and say or ask. Bring up what you want. If you

see something that looks incongruous or you just wanna say that you love Led Zeppelin,

I mean, just bring it on. [laughter]

>>Matt Bardin: So the nav-, main navigation features this dial, which is inspired by a

stove dial and basically, we give the users a lot of ways to navigate and drill down and

look at the recipe. So, you can go by region, by course, by season, things kids love cause

Mario's into kids. You can bookmark your favorites.

[laughter]

>>Mario Batali: "Mario has kids," is what he meant to say. I have kids; I like their

friends, we hang out. I'm not so into kids.

[laughter]

>>Matt Bardin: No, I haven't heard that.

>>Mario Batali: I'm childish is what he meant to say. I'm childish, that's what he meant

to say.

[laughter]

>>Matt Bardin: And he hasn't used the f word once.

>>Mario Batali: Not yet, just the fucking introduction.

[laughter]

>>Matt Bardin: So, let's look by category and let's look at the pastas. And I didn't

bring my glasses up, so I don't know what this is.

>>Mario Batali: That's Bucatini All'amatriciana. One of my personal favorites.

>>Matt Bardin: So, if you look at it this way, you can scroll through and just quickly

look at all of the steps. You can also hit the--not the back button--whoops. You can

also hit the menu button and this custom designed navigation bar lets you see the ingredients,

which you can also move to your shopping cart. It lets you see all the videos that would

relate to this particular app and I mean--

>>Mario Batali: Meaning that as you use an olive oil, if you wanna understand a little

bit more about olive oil, right then and there you stop, you put a little bookmark and say,

"All right. Lemme find out a little bit more about olive oil, maybe before I use it or

before I purchase it." So then you go to that and then if in the middle of that, for some

reason, you wanna understand a little bit about how to zest a lemon, you can go right

back to that and say, "All right, lemme show you, lemme see how to zest a lemon." And then

go back to the recipe and then continue through.

>>Matt Bardin: And since you mentioned going back, this tab right here is for bookmarks

and as soon as I touch that it's automatically bookmarking this recipe. So, that's how I

jump around and can cook several things at once. So now if I wanna cook this recipe,

I would turn it this way, in landscape mode and this gives me the steps, either in text

form or in images. So, I can scroll through and just look at all the images. A lot of

chefs are visual people and they can kinda look at this and get a sense of what they

wanna do, but then it also gives you the text and you can toggle back and forth. This one

doesn't -- oh, there's a timer. If Mario calls for a timer, we've built them into the app.

And--

>>Mario Batali: So, say simmer ten minutes, for example. Or, cook pasta--

>>Matt Bardin: Whoops! Was there a timer here? There it is.

>>Mario Batali: There you go.

>>Matt Bardin: So, if I tap this bar, there's my timer and I set it and it's now running

behind all of these. It's good, right?

>>Mario Batali: Perfect. Nice, huh?

[laughter]

Bravo, Matt.

[clapping]

Now, if at that same time, you went to another recipe of a salad that you were making to

serve with this and there was a timer on that, you could run concurrent timers going at the

same time. It will also warn you when your spaghetti should be coming out of the water,

in case you're busy on the phone or liking kids or whatever else you do.

[laughter]

>>Matt Bardin: Which Mario is known to do apparently. So, just in terms of -- Mario

mentioned the other kinds of videos there. There are not just recipes in this app. There

are also two other kinds of videos. There are kitchen basics, which -- do you wanna

talk about that a little, Mario?

>>Mario Batali: Sure. I'll describe how and what you should look for when you're buying.

Or, what you should be aware of. We'll talk about different kinds of salumi, what salumi

is, where you can buy it, what the good ones are, what the ones that aren't so good are.

I generally don't talk poorly about anything, but if I find something I find that I don't

like, I'll mention a way to avoid it and that's just about going to the right stores.

>>Matt Bardin: Umm.

>>Mario Batali: Like, if you wanna know about salt, I talk about salt for like, four minutes.

[laughter]

It's just the kinda guy I am.

[laughter]

I think the understanding, however, that really, in addition to your – to the ingredients

that you use and that you buy specifically for that dish, the most often drive-by victim

is the things that you use in your pantry that you haven't evaluated. If you're using

a subpar oil or a subpar salt or a subpar kind of tomato or a subpar kind of anchovy,

everything that you use that in, or even breadcrumbs. If you use them improperly or you buy them

wrong, the building blocks, the fundamental starting, the foundation of your dish is already

marred. So, you're not gonna be able to stand much of a chance of making it great. The point

is not necessarily following only what I say. It's about developing your own culinary point

of view. And the informational text and the informational videos in here, kind of coerce

you to become more involved in understanding your pantry, which is really how you're gonna

make much better food. And having three different kinds of salt because you know what they're

for and using their different levels of salinity and their texture, will affect the final composition

of the dishes as well as the pleasure it's going to give to your friends and yourself

and understanding those details, is what making really good food is all about and it's not

complicated, especially when someone describes it to you. Maybe reading it, it's not so obvious,

but when you're sitting there looking at it and I'm pointing out the things and what to

look for, that empowers you to become a better cook. I hope.

>>Matt Bardin: So, let's just go back to, let's go back to that recipe and just show

you the video--

>>Mario Batali: Three -- two minutes and 23 seconds, let's get your sauce going, Matt.

[chuckles]

>>Matt Bardin: Oops. Ok. Let's turn it back this way and now you can watch the video.

You can watch the video. There we go. Speak now--

[laughter]

>>Mario Batali: It wants you to speak now.

>>Matt Bardin: Ok.

>>Mario Batali: Don't talk. Shhh!

>>Matt Bardin: What was that? I don't know what that's doing. Here we go.

[pause]

[beep]

Can you guys hear this?

[video clip playing]

Anyway, that's the video.

[laughter]

>>Audience Member #1: Mario, what is that?.

>>Mario Batali: Bucatini all'amatriciania; that means bucatini in the style of the women

from Amatricia. It's spaghetti with a hole. What I have here is guanchiale. If you couldn't

find some guanchiale--

[laughter]

you would go buy some pancetta or some great American bacon. I just give it a little chop

right here with one of these fancy knives.

[laughter]

I point to my name on my sweatshirt. And then I show you that even with the hands that used