Health and Innovation by Heinz Beck

Heinz Beck, the German-born chef who has been at the helm of La Pergola for 30 years, brings a new-level of  lightness of touch to traditional Mediterranean ingredients. La Pergola was the first restaurant in Rome to be awarded three Michelin stars, and it remains the only one in the city to hold this accolade. In this interview, we delve into his philosophy on cuisine, health, and hear about his latest venture.

You’ve been working in health research for years. Could you describe your findings and what healthy eating means to you?

Healthy eating is about balancing pleasure with the needs of your body. This means that within a diet, there are rules that must be respected, depending on the objective. However, within these rules, there are no limits, and everything can be made tasty, nice, and beautiful. It’s about finding the right balance between the soul and the pleasure of eating and, on the other hand, the rules you have to respect. If you find this balance, you will enjoy all diets.

There are many ways we can add quality to food without having too many calories. It’s all about balance. Seasonality of ingredients is very important because, in season, the nutritional value of the ingredients is much higher. Nature is perfect. For example, if an ingredient grows in the summer, the plant is designed to protect the fruit properly. If you grow the same plant out of season, the plant has to protect the fruit more because the microclimate and pathogens are different. 

As the plant protects itself more, it will provide fewer micronutrients to the fruits. This is why I always say that in-season produce has better flavour and higher micronutrient quality. For this reason, our food lines use only seasonal ingredients. We source our ingredients from biodynamic and alternative agriculture, which ensures even better quality.

How different was creating menus at Palazzo Fiuggi compared to La Pergola or other restaurants around the world?

Healthy eating is about balancing pleasure with the needs of your body.

It’s not so much more difficult. The only thing is we have to respect the rules. But within the rules, there’s no problem. We can be really creative.

Your food was a great example that you can enjoy food at a medical retreat, which I really did. How can you teach the new generation to eat healthily and enjoy food?

There needs to be more communication because, in this area, not enough is being done. It’s a big problem. Every day when we switch on the television, we are bombarded with advertising telling us what to eat, but not why and how much. Much of what is advertised is not suitable for everyday consumption. The industry is doing its job, selling products, but there should be more conscious communication about what is necessary for our bodies and how we should change our nutrition to age better. The most important thing for ageing better is to eat properly. Everybody knows this. We all want to become old and elderly, but it has to be done properly. If I become old and need someone to help me to live, nobody wants that. To age properly, we have to change our nutrition early, not at the end. If you change your nutrition at the end, you can’t fix what’s ruined. We invest a lot of time in trivial things, like spending two hours a day on the phone looking at Instagram and Facebook, but we don’t take time to organise our nutrition properly. People say they have no time, but it’s about priorities. If you have a metabolic disease later, the time to address it is now, while you’re healthy. Now is the time to organise your food better.

I’ve been here for three days, and I felt like I was eating at a fine dining restaurant every day. Everything was very well executed, perfectly balanced, and tasty.
What are your favourite ingredients to work with?

Seasonal ingredients. It’s not that I look into favourite ingredients because all ingredients are beautiful. It’s the way you treat them. It’s not about the ingredient; it’s about how you transform them.

What is your favourite dish to order at a restaurant or cook at home? What do you like eating?

The next dish, which has not been invented yet, is my favourite one. I’m always looking to create something new, to see something new, to taste something new.

You ‘ve been the chef of La Pergola for 30 years. How has fine dining changed in your career, and in general?

Trends come and go. For me, it’s much more important to find a model of reference because that remains.

The fact that I’ve been working with medicine for 25 years means I’m always considering the quality of how you digest and metabolise the food in all my restaurants. These are two main factors for me. Food has changed, of course, over the last 30 years. There are a lot of trends coming into restaurants, but I’m very careful about trends. Trends come and go. For me, it’s much more important to find a model of reference because that remains. Trends change. When I’m changing, I look at different things, not the most famous ingredient or technique at the moment. In all my restaurants, there are a lot of techniques, research, control, and creativity. This is what drives me, not the next trend. Maybe it’s a different philosophy, but the end result is the most important. People have to be happy. In fine dining, they should get what they expect. In a medical retreat, they should get what they expect there too.

What are your next projects in 2025 or 2026?

We are doing a lot of new projects. I have an agreement with Orient Express, so we will be working on different hotels and trains over the next two years. It will be a beautiful challenge, and we are very happy about it.

Thanks to the support from @sarah_vision_stories.