Upstream was born from an intuition of Claudio Cerati, an entrepreneur from Parma with a passion for good food. It all began with the rediscovery of a flavour he hadn’t tasted in a long time: an excellent salmon eaten one evening at a restaurant. Good ones like that were truly hard to find; so, instead of looking for it, he started making it himself.
In Parma, in his garden, the smoking experiments began, using beechwood from the nearby Apennines - that scent reminds him of his grandmother, when she would light the fireplace up in the mountains. A pastime meant for friends, a different Christmas gift every year. The experimentation went on for more than ten years.
Then came the turning point. Someone pointed out to him that the excellence of his way of preparing salmon could not remain unexpressed. The rebellious nature that had always driven him in the direction opposite to the current led Claudio Cerati to go where the finest salmon is produced, in the Faroe archipelago, between Scotland and Iceland. Here the so-called Atlantic salmon grows in the open, clean waters of the northern seas. A salmon free of antibiotics and rich in omega-3. What more could you want.
A method that grants the fish a relaxed life and a healthy diet. The pursuit of excellence is carried through every step of the supply chain; at this point the salmon has to be perfect. Fresh, to be eaten soon because it contains no preservatives, cured with a delicate recipe of only salt and sugar. Finally, the touch that makes it different from all the others: for the smoking, Emilian beechwood every now and then travels all the way to northern Europe.
Upstream is Claudio Cerati’s salmon, the one salmon in the world born from his Against-the-Current dream. Almost without meaning to.
