In June 08 we commented that Gualtiero Marchesi, famous for possibly single handedly relaunching Italian post war cuisine, decided to give up his Michelin stars for their lack of relevance to good eating, at least in Italy.

It is no surprise, therefore, that November 08 saw Mr. Marchesi's restaurant stripped of all of its stars in the new Michlein guide and reduced to the level of 'Hotel Restaurant'.

You can't have it both ways, of course, but this feud has been going on since the late 1990's when the restaurant was downgraded from 3 to 2 stars.

Delicious Italy has talked about the issue with Heston Blumenthal, whose own restaurant is widely considered one of the top 3 in the world.

If there is a world standard for ranking restaurants, then Michelin is certainly it.

And the jury is still out if Gualtiero Marchesi would have had arrived at this point if he had kept his 3rd star.

What is for sure is that France has 5 times more 3 star Michelin restaurants than Italy.

But is there a deeper cultural take on food being played out here?  

It seems in Italy there is a strong movement for preserving the country's regional gastronomy as it always has been.

Since when? is the obvious question.

Dishes out of a peasant tradition above fusion or experimentation; the old flavors against the new etc.

A sentiment which may stop the country's young upcoming chefs from combining the best of the old and new and opening up a bright, distinct future for Italian cuisine. 

A history of Italian cuisine would support this fully.

The Alitalia saga is, dare we say, almost in its final act.

By the end of this month the new company should have divorced itself from the ruining debts and mismanagement of the the old company and started to fly just in time for Christmas.

And unlike most divorces, there are no messy maintenance payments.  

But who will be piloting the aeroplanes?

It seems the independent trade unions who represent the flight staff have no intention of accepting the new contracts proposed and are anticipating strike action.

Some say approaches will be made to pilots of other airlines, even Ryanair believe it or not.

What all agree on, however, is that the new airline will be swallowed up in the not too distant future by one of Air France, Lufthansa or British Airways.  

Foreign owned, foreign run and flown by foreigners, it could make some money.

But just don't call it Alitalia. 

http://corporate.alitalia.it/

Our man on the ground in Le Marche informed us recently of an entry on the Italy Mag magazine website forum. We quote:

Hi, My husband has just made a very quick visit to check on our builders. He stayed at the Paradiso in Amandola. Sitting on the next table at breakfast was Heston Blumenthal - for those who don't know of him he is one of the top (if not the top) chefs working in the UK winning awards (many of which he won year after year) for chefs' chef, best restaurant in UK, second best restaurant in the world, three michelin stars etc etc. He was with a bloke and then another one joined them. Anyone know what he's doing there (could be filming for one of tv series or something ???) 

Being too modest to reply on the Forum itself, we encourage everybody to keep looking at the Channel Four UK television schedules early in the new year. 

Why? Because the production company producing the new 'Feast with Heston Blumenthal' series contacted Delicious Italy s.r.l earlier in the year and commissioned us for location work both prior and during the shoot.

The filming took place in the Monti Sibillini territory and was set in some fantastic spots in the zones of Force and Loro Piceno and with the collaboration of many local people, their friends and families.   

View a still from the production filming here.      

Nevertheless, what is interesting to us is how much hearsay travels around some internet Forums.

And how much the words 'wrong end' and 'stick' can be applied to particular comments and opinions expressed.  

But judge for yourself.

We received a newsletter from Joan Peterson of the Eat Smart Guides (GinkGo Press) to launch their new Eat Smart in Sicily edition.

From the press release:

Eat Smart in Sicily - How to Decipher the Menu, Know the Market Foods, & Embark on a Tasting Adventure.

Rich with seafood, citrus, olives, and almond sweets, the cuisine of the sun-drenched island of Sicily reflects the influence of Greeks, Norman French, Tunisians, and Italians, among others. Unlike guidebooks that sweep Sicily into an overview of Italy, this latest addition to the award-winning Eat Smart series focuses solely on the cuisine of Sicily.

Eat Smart in Sicily provides an historical overview of the peoples who have lived there and their contributions to Sicilian cuisine, with attention given to the fare distinct to the villages and urban centers of Sicily’s four regions.

A helpful guide to Sicilian menus, with English translations of Italian (or Sicilian) words, makes ordering food in Sicily an easy and immediately rewarding experience. Highlighting regional recipe mainstays, Joan Peterson and Marcella Croce provide tips to shopping for traditional ingredients in Sicily and at home.

The book also includes a comprehensive glossary of foods, kitchen utensils, and cooking methods to prepare authentic Sicilian specialties at home or abroad.

Distributed by the University of Wisconsin Press, more information can be found at
www.eatsmartguides.com

Italian liqueurs or digestives such as limoncello and grappa have been produced for centuries, but have only been advertised and marketed fairly recently.

Well, concerning that marvellous 'bring it on' artichoke concoction known as Cynar, for sure since 1975.

The proof (no pun intended) was the 1975 Cup Winners Cup final between Dinamo Kiev, of the then USSR, and Ferencvaros of Hungary.

Recently retelevised on ESPN Classic Sports channel here in Italy, Cynar filled the advertising hoardings behind each goal in prime eyeball position   

The match was played in the St. Jakob Stadium, Basle in Switzerland, that hotbed of Euro soccer.

Watching it after an interval of 33 years was a surreal experience, not least for the rest of the advertisers who had invested their budgets on the game.

The list reads: Texaco, Stella Artois, Palma Camping Articles, Samson Shag, Ferguson Televison & Radio, Lois, Kent and Sunny Holidays South Tenerife.

By sheer coincidence Cynar has a new campaign just out in Italy which stars the oblique 80's pop group Elio e Le Storie Tese (and better then ever).

The ad sees the boys enjoying a Cynar in central Milan while nonchalantly disturbing the traffic to a standstill.

Just as they look as if they are going to get a good cuffing for wearing too thin ties, a space ship in the form of an artichoke lands and whisks them off.

Probably to extra time and penalties between Ferencvaros and Dinamo Kiev.

Although Alitalia is losing over 2 million euros a day and the airline is on the brink of bankruptcy, a slogan for an eventual new company has already been developed.

'Amo litalia, volo Alitalia' or 'I love Italy, I fly Alitalia'.

Ah, love. All you need is love and everything will be fine.

And in fact the word love pops up all over the place as we are encouraged to buy things related to the Bel Paese.

Radio DJ has launched a television campaign with the line 'Radio DJ ama Italia' featuring a role call of diverse communities across the country. 

A range of industrial ready made traditional fry ups is also being advertised heavily over here called 'That's Amore'. From the ad spot you'd think Findus were making it in deepest Chiantishire.

And even McDonalds in Italy are 'lovin it', but only in English funnily enough.

Italy Magazine out of the UK is also in love: 'the n. 1 magazine for lovers of all things Italian'.

While 'LoveItaly' is the self declared consumer branding for the website of ABTOI, the Association of British Travel Organisers to Italy.

To end we have just discovered a website called 'Dream of Italy, the insiders guide to undiscovered Italy' which features an interview with the author of 'In Love with Italy, a Traveler's Guide to the Most Romantic Destinations in the Country of Amore', a book about what makes Italy so romantic.

There are many formal and public funded courses and initiatives on offer throughout the year in Italy, many aimed at stimulating self employment. 

The 'Progetto ReMIGiugno 2008 is typical.

Free, the course is aimed at 'developing useful competencies for planning initatives finalised at promoting the new rurality'.

Financed by the Regione Lazio, the overall objective is to prepare mainly unemployed women aged 30-50 for entrepreneurial activity in the field of social tourism, by providing them with the necessary background and skills in 'cultural, social, educational and tourism for the territory". 

Cutting to the quick, having done the course the participants will then be in a position to open up companies in the sector of social rural tourism; hotels, agriturismi etc

As always with these sort of projects short practical work experiences are built into the course at 'importanti organizzazioni attive sul territorio' or 'important organizations active in the territory'..

Our opinion is that it is one thing benefiting from short familiarization courses in a business sector, and another opening a company with all the associated risks, pressures and obligations. 

As one radio journalist commented, 'how can an unemployed disadvantaged middle aged person possibly be in a financial position to buy or open a rural activity such as a hotel, holiday farm or other'.

The answer was that the graduates of the project will have sufficient knowledge and capacity to apply for further State and European funds to open their activity, with the ongoing support and expertise of the said organizers.

www.netform.net