Over 100 events in 14 Chinese cities. These are the numbers of the Week of Italian Cuisine in China which included a series of seminars, conferences, cooking classes, culinary competitions, tastings, concerts and photographic exhibitions not only in the larger cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Canton and Chongqing, but also in places like Sanya, Leshan and Kunming.
The testimonial was chef Luigi Nastri, one of the most innovative faces on the Italian culinary scene, who is engaged in alerting people to extremely topical issues such as the fight against food waste and proper nutrition for children. And this year’s theme, related to food education, was the focus of various initiatives that emphasized the quality of our food products, with the aim of expanding the margins for exports in this sector.
The main initiatives included the first edition of the Italian Cuisine Festival which took place on Sunday, November 24th, in Canton. A day of tasting and display of products: over 2,000 participants of all age brackets stopped by the stands, tasting Italian food and wine specialties and buying various products, accompanied by Italian music in the background. The ravioli competition also contributed to the success of the initiative, with the Cantonese dim sum competing against the tortellini emiliani, prepared live by the Emilian pasta-makers and by two famous chefs from Guangdong. The competition involving the Emilian cuisine continued at the Shunde Hotel Polytechnic, one of the most renowned culinary institutes in the whole country, where two cooks from Emilia-Romagna taught the students how to prepare some traditional Emilian dishes.
The promotion of Italian food and wine excellences was further expanded on the web thanks to the comments made by the food critics and “food influencers” who participated in the various events in the program.