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  • >>Barry Salzman: Good afternoon. For those of you I've not met before, I'm Barry Salzman

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  • unless I'm out of date-- to the Mario Batali empire has been the Android App, and that's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