5th WEEK OF ITALIAN CUISINE IN THE WORLD: "Knowledge and flavors of the Italian lands, 200 years after the birth of Pellegrino Artusi"

Dear Members and Friends of CICC, 

The "Week of Italian Cuisine in the World" is the annual thematic review dedicated to the promotion of quality Italian cuisine and food products, promoted by the network of Embassies, Consulates, Italian Cultural Institutes and ICE Offices abroad. The project, now in its fifth edition, once again promotes the Italian Agri-food Sector and the uniqueness of its typical cuisine abroad, underlining the peculiarities that characterize this sector: quality, sustainability, culture, food safety, right to food, education, identity, territory and biodiversity.

"Knowledge and flavors of the Italian lands, 200 years after the birth of Pellegrino Artusi" is the theme of the fifth 2020 edition which is running from 23 to 29 November 2020. The event captures the bicentenary of the birth of Pellegrino Artusi – father of the Italian home cooking – to offer an insight at the future of the agri-food sector starting from the roots of our tradition and enhancing the role of the food and wine heritage of our territories. This will be a great opportunity to reflect also on the benefits of the Mediterranean Diet, which in a period of health emergency represents one of the defense tools against the possibility of getting sick. Moreover, this year the Mediterranean Diet is going to celebrate ten years of recognition by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Italy – the European country with the largest number of PDO and PGI agri-food products recognized by the European Union – offers numerous recipes as evidence of the enormous biodiversity of our territories, the variety of raw materials and typical products that lend themselves to a range of uses in the kitchen, enriching the gastronomic heritage of Italy.

The video recipe shown below is one example. This is one of Pellegrino Artusi's most famous recipes, taken from his famous cookbook "Science in the kitchen and the art of eating well". The book, more commonly known as "L’Artusi", is the most famous and read book on Italian cuisine, the one from which all the great chefs of the last century from all over the world have drawn inspiration and suggestions. Among his 790 great recipes, at number 39 we find: homemade potato gnocchi with pancetta and gorgonzola sauce. The “Homemade potato gnocchi” recipe from Casa Artusi uses three different Italian products, all strictly DOP: potatoes from Bologna, gorgonzola and pancetta from Piacenza. Using these three ingredients it was possible to make the most of this delicious traditional Italian first course, thanks to the creaminess and aromaticity of the gorgonzola and the crunchiness of the pancetta that fits perfectly with the taste of potatoes. According to Pellegrino Artusi, how were real potato gnocchi made at the time? Watching the video below you can enjoy the authentic recipe!

The fillings are used to make dishes such as roasts, chickens, rabbits, fish or vegetables tastier. In our Italian gastronomic culture, in fact, there are many preparations that involve the filling of a dish: they can be both first and second courses; all often prepared for holidays, special occasions, with the family or to demonstrate wealth and abundance in the kitchen. Artusi, in his book "Science in the kitchen and the art of eating well" in the chapter dedicated to wet foods, reports more than 100 recipes, among them, number 307: chops stuffed with mortadella di Bologna PGI, Pecorino Romano DOP with drops of balsamic vinegar of Modena IGP. This by Casa Artusi is a versatile second course, rigorously prepared with DOP and IGP products. Watching this video below you can follow the real recipe!

What is one of the most known and appreciated Italian recipes all around the world? We can find it at number 403 of Pellegrino Artusi's cookbook, under the name of “tortino di petonciani”, better known as parmigiana di melanzane.

Parmigiana is a rich dish of the Italian gastronomic tradition, prepared in different ways depending on the region in which you are located. There are numerous versions of this recipe, just as traditional home kitchens teach us, there is not a single recipe, but many different ways of preparing the same dish: the ingredients vary depending on the region in which you are located. The name of this dish derives from the southern Italian dialect, “parmigiana”, and indicates the layers of which it is composed. This too, like the previous recipes, boasts strictly DOP and IGP ingredients: above all, long purple aubergines, San Marzano DOP tomato sauce, three buffalo mozzarella from Campania DOP, PDO Parmigiano Reggiano, extra virgin olive oil "Colline di Romagna "PDO. Here is the real recipe of Casa Artusi for eggplant parmigiana!

Kind Regards,

CICC Team.