The Italian Consulate in Belo Horizonte targeted youth, including the very young, in order to create life-long ties with Italian gastronomy. During Italian Culinary Week in the World, which will kick off on Monday throughout the Foreign Ministry’s diplomatic and consular network, Italian Chef Raffaele Autorino will hold a cooking laboratory for students of the Fondazione Torino Italian nursery school.
In consideration of the importance that experience with food can have during infancy on the children’s future eating habits, on 18 and 19 November, 130 children will be encouraged to experience food with all their senses: they will learn to make dough for pizza, season it and then they will eat it all together. Then, on 23 November, the Brazilian students of Italian studies at the Minas Gerais Federal University will compete in a cooking contest which will wind up the “Italian in the Kitchen” 6-month course. The students will be judged by the most renowned Italian chefs in the city.
Still with the aim of building Brazilian students’ loyalty to the use of high-quality Italian products, the SENAC Gastronomy School, an important Brazilian hotel management school, will host Italian Chef Rosario Messina, from the Bottega Coppola restaurant in Montes Claros (Minas Gerais) on 18 November to hold an exclusive cooking master class on “The School of Tomato”.
The 4th Italian Culinary Week in Belo Horizonte will also offer the opportunity to discuss the scientific aspects of health and nutrition, by also promoting the model of the Mediterranean Diet. On 19 November, Alexandre Carvalho from the Istituto Europeo del Design (IED) will hold a lecture titled “Blue Zones Italia – Gastronomy, Longevity and Lifestyles” on the eating habits of centenarians living in Sicily and Sardinia at Casa Fiat di Cultura.
On 18 November, Tuscan Chef Leonardo Fontanelli, from the La Vera restaurant, will propose hors d’oeuvres, bread and pizzas made with stone-ground flour from 100% Italian wheat while Carlo Caredda, chef at the Barolio restaurant, will instead propose a menu with seafood on 20 November.
There will also be events dedicated to promoting Italian wines and regional eno-gastronomic traditions, also with a view to promoting tourism, at the facilities of the Brazilian Association of Sommelier (ABS). On 22 November, the ABS will host the tasting of six types of Prosecco DOCG from the “Prosecco Hills of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene”, conducted by Italian sommelier Nella Cerino.
In association with the Italian Chamber of Commerce of Minas Gerais, on 19 November, the plaque with the Italian Hospitality Seal will be assigned to the most deserving restaurants in the State of Minas Gerais. In addition, Italian restaurants will participate in the ‘Mangia che ti fa bene’ (‘Eat; it’s good for you’) initiative throughout the Week, in which two typical Italian menus will be offered at the price of one.
The Week will close with the “Aperitivo all’Italiana” gala event at the elegant Hotel Fasano in Belo Horizonte, which will promote 4 Italian iconic cocktails: Campari Spritz, Aperol Spritz, Negroni and Negroni Sbagliato.