Tag: eating

Ireland Week and A Taste of Ireland: we celebrate (also) by eating – Italian cuisine reinvented by Gordon Ramsay

Irish ingredients and Italian cuisine: this will also be theIreland Week, an entire week of celebrations and festivities dedicated to the Emerald Isle from 10 to 17 March, St. Patrick’s Day, its patron saint. Meetings, screenings, music, cultural walks, which will pleasantly invade all of Milan (the complete program is on www.ireland.com), but also excellent food, and not just in the Lombard capital.

A Taste of Ireland 2024

Because, in addition to being an island full of greenery and uncontaminated landscapes, Ireland is also famous for its excellent products, the result of a pioneering land for sustainability: among the many beef and lamb that grow free to graze feeding only on grass, but also organic salmon, and oysters with great flavour. The Irish government body promotes them Bord Bia, which in collaboration with Irish Tourism and JRE-Italy, Jeunes Restaurateurs d’Europe, is promoting an event within an event from 10 to 17 March: TO Taste of Ireland.

ALFIE SHAW

In its second edition, A Taste of Ireland will be an opportunity to taste Irish gastronomic excellence in dishes prepared ad hoc by the chefs of Jeunes Restaurateurs d’Europe throughout Italy and beyond. The chefs of the restaurant will also participate Chefs’ Irish Beef Club (CIBC), the initiative founded in 2004 and managed by Bord Bia which includes prestigious international chefs who promote and enhance Irish beef and, among many, Roberto Valbuzzi, chef patron of the Crotto Valtellina restaurant, as well as Ambassador for Irish meat. A collective initiative that will allow you to taste the products of the Green Island in gourmet restaurants, but also pubs and family restaurants.

Ireland Week and Irish flavors with an Italian touch

«We are happy to propose ‘A Taste of Ireland’ again this year, a hymn to the flavors and quality of Irish raw materials and part of a celebration entirely dedicated to the excellence of the Emerald Isle. For seven days, throughout Italy, you will be able to taste some of Ireland’s premium products – including beef, lamb, scampi, salmon and oysters – raised and fished according to traditional but also sustainable practices and with certified quality”, he explains Francesca Perfetto, Market Specialist at Bord Bito. «We are enthusiastic about the partnership with Bord Bia on the occasion of the third Ireland Week, which allows us to expand the reach of the “A Taste of Ireland” Food Festival at a national level, with the participation of restaurants in many Italian cities. Food is one of Ireland’s surprises,” he adds Marcella Ercolini, Director of Irish Tourism in Italy. All the details of the restaurants participating in the initiative are available at the link Irelandweek.it/atasteofireland.

Which restaurants are participating in A Taste of Ireland

Irish Beef Ambassador
Crotto Valtellina, Chef Roberto Valbuzzi (Malnate, VA)

Followed by the Milanese realities of:
– Arcane
– Beef Club Milan
– Crazy Patrick’s
– Football Pub
– Out of stock
– Hard Rock
– La Belle Alliance
– Pellegrini butcher’s shop (Porta Venezia)
– Pellegrini butcher’s shop (Lambrate)
– Miro
– Mulligan’s Pub
– Old Fox Pub
– PitBeef
– Pogue Mahone’s restaurant
– Identità Golose Restaurant
– Spirit of Milan

The JRE-Italia restaurants

LOMBARDY
– Innocenti Evasioni, Chef Tommaso Arrigoni (Milan)
– Due Spade, Chef Lorenzo Di Bari (Milan)
– Antica Osteria Magenes, Chef Dario Guidi (Gaggiano Milan)
– Colonne Restaurant, Chef Silvio Battistoni (Varese)
– Lanterna Verde Restaurant, Chef Roberto Tonola (Villa di Chiavenna, SO)

PIEDMONT
– Atelier Restaurant, Chef Giorgio Bartolucci (Domodossola, NO)

SOUTH TYROL
– Hotel restaurant Unterwirt, Chef Alex Haselwanter (Gudon, BZ)

VENETO
– La Favellina Restaurant, Chef Federico Pettenuzzo (Malo, VI)
– La Locanda Di Piero, Chef Renato Rizzardi (Vicenza)
– Trequarti, Chef Alberto Basso (Vicenza)

LIGURIA
– Il Giardino del Gusto, Chef Emanuele Donalisio (Ventimiglia, IM)

EMILIA ROMAGNA
– L’Erba del Re Restaurant, Chef Luca Marchini (Modena)
– San Domenico Restaurant, Chef Massimiliano Mascia (Imola, BO)

TUSCANY
– La Perla del Mare Restaurant, Chef Deborah Corsi (San Vincenzo, LI)
– La Leggenda dei Frati Restaurant, Chef Filippo Saporito (Florence)

MARCHE
– Lo Scudiero Restaurant, Chef Daniele Patti (Pesaro)

UMBRIA
– Trippini Restaurant, Chef Paolo Trippini (Civitella del Lago, PG)

PUGLIA
– Il Capriccio Restaurant, Chef Leonardo Vescera (Vieste, FG)
– Quintessere Restaurant, Chef Stefano Di Gennaro (Trani, BT)

The list of members concludes with the restaurants of the Chefs’ Irish Beef Club (CIBC):
– Mulino Landi Restaurant of Hotel Certaldo, Chef Sara Conforti (Certaldo, FI)
– Nido del Picchio, Chef Daniele Repetti (Carpaneto Piacentino, PC)
– Bocon Divino, Chef Alberto Canton (Camposampiero, PD)
– Rome Luxus Bistrot, Chef Andrea Fusco (Rome)

Allan Bay and the praise of eating with your hands: interview – Italian cuisine reinvented by Gordon Ramsay

Food journalist, historian, writer, Allan Bay he has just put down on paper in a book what many (if not all) think, but which we often don’t have the courage to say. At least not in public (so, let alone doing!). She remembered that eat with your hands it is one of the great pleasures of life, and how and why we should do it whenever we can, except for rare exceptions that make it impossible to use the thumb and forefinger to touch food, smell it and bring it to the mouth.

Is titled Praise of eating with your hands (The Assayer): clear from the title, it is a cultured and entertaining historical and anthropological journey that clears this very satisfying gesture that over the centuries social conventions have made appear “exotic”. Indeed – let’s say it – in certain circumstances a little rude.

As you will discover by reading it, until recently, forks didn’t even exist: they arrived on the tables of the European bourgeoisie only in the 19th century, after being invented in China. Then etiquette began to dictate the rules, limiting them to one There is a very narrow circle of foods that can be eaten without cutlery. This too is an entirely Western affair, considering that there is half the world – with many Asian and African countries leading the way – that often willingly do without cutlery. Allan Bay also tells this story and, to move from theory to practice, he gradually suggests tasty dishes recipes from «conlemanisti. Or rather, as he explains in this interview, “indications”, which certainly make reading his first “personal” book even more pleasant.

Interview with Allan Bay

Why is it a “personal” book?
«It concerns a passion of mine that few of my friends, the real ones, know about: eating with your hands, in fact. I have written many books, especially recipe books, which as such had a basic objectivity. This book is different precisely because it talks about me.”

What makes eating with your hands so enjoyable?
«As children we discover the world – and therefore also food – first of all through touch and smell, and this physical contact with what we eat remains the greatest enjoyment. But over time we tend to deprive ourselves of it because as we grow up we are taught that we have to use cutlery: we lock ourselves into patterns. The purpose of the book is to get out of these patterns and clear, when possible, this great pleasure of eating with your hands.”

How many would like to do it but don’t have the courage to do it or even just say it?
“I do not know. However, I know for a fact that several of my friends love to eat with their hands and that many use cutlery even in cases where there is no need. I think, for example, of those who eat pizza with a fork and knife and of the astonished looks of the pizza chefs while they do so. And then in Naples even spaghetti was once eaten with the hands: remember Totò?

Eating green during the holidays is possible. Here’s how to do it – Italian cuisine reinvented by Gordon Ramsay

Eating green at Christmas? You can, or rather you must. This holiday represents the ideal time to shelter at home with family and friends, sharing special moments and, of course, delicious meals. But what exactly does “good food” mean today? In addition to organoleptic qualities, food must respect criteria that go beyond simple taste. As Carlo Petrini, founder of Slow Food, claims, food must be «good, clean and fair. Clean, i.e. produced according to environmentally friendly methods; fair, capable of guaranteeing respect for those who work there. Here are some rules to follow during Christmas holidays to adopt a greener approach to food.

10’000 Hours

Eating green: what food choices to make during the holidays

During the holidays it is time to favor high quality foods, possibly organic or from integrated agriculture with low environmental impact. Reduce your meat consumption and, when you choose it, opt for meat from controlled farms and organic. Prefer local, regional or national products to reduce the environmental impact of transport and, if possible, purchase them in bulk, to avoid unnecessary packaging. The choice of wine can also be oriented towards organic options. For those who want alternatives to meat, legumes are a valid option, providing high-quality proteins and ingredients for tasty recipes.

Avoid foods at excessively low prices, as they often hide hidden costs for the environment and workers. Avoid buying products from distant places and choose sustainable alternatives to endangered fish such as salmon. Opt for lesser-known, but equally tasty fish, a low environmental and seasonal impact, such as horse mackerel, zerro, tuna, tombarello, dolphin fish and red mullet. Also molluscs such as clams, mussels and oysters; and shellfish such as white shrimp (if coming from specific regions) and corn on the cob are conscious choices.

A sustainable celebration: don’t waste!

Reduce wasteespecially at the table, carefully preserving food and avoiding throwing away what remains. Avoid plastic films and prefer reusable containers with caps. When you go shopping, calculate the precise number of people and prefer bulk products to reduce packaging. When setting the table, avoid disposable plastic tableware and, if necessary, opt for compostable alternatives.

Too Good to Go together with Yougov have reported the data regarding the waste of Italians at the table during the holidays: the 40% of Italians waste over a quarter of Christmas food, with panettone leading the way, despite its high cost. However, they also emerge positive behaviors: