Giornata internazionale del Risotto alla Milanese

Il GVCI2001, club virtuale degli chef italiani sparsi nel mondo, organizza per il 17 gennaio 2009 una giornata internazionale dedicata al Risotto alla Milanese. Tale evento viene organizzato ogni anno in tutti i ristoranti nei quali lavora uno chef italiano iscritto al GVCI, con lo scopo di promuovere una serata dedicata ad un piatto tipico originale italiano. Tra i ristoratori che aderiranno all’iniziativa a Toronto, c’è uno sponsor dell’Altra Italia, la Trattoria da Gianni e Maria. Hundreds of Italian Cuisine chefs, restaurateurs and culinary professionals working all around the world joined the GVCI appeal for the International Day of Italian Cuisines. “January 17, 2009 is a day dedicated to the lovers of Italian Cuisines all around the world”, says Mario Caramella, President of GVCI, the organizations that promotes the initiative. the current worldwide boom of Italian cuisine has generated such a proliferation of bad imitations that Italian Cuisine consumers no longer can accept the systematic forgery of products and the counterfeiting of Italian culinary culture. GVCI, with its 800 associates in over 70 countries, last year created an historic ola, in which hundreds of chefs and restaurants at all latitudes cooked an authentic Pasta alla Carbonara. “For IDIC 2009 we have chosen Risotto alla Milanese”, adds Mario Caramella. Along with pizza and spaghetti, risotto is by far the most popular Italian dish around the world. The success of risotto has been and still is such that it has by now become a kind of “technique” used extremely liberally in all kinds of cooking. Precisely due to this popularity, risotto is now among the most forged Italian dishes in the world. In a city like New York, on 50 restaurants that have risotto in their menus, less than one third is Italian. The rest is made mainly by so called new American (38%) restaurants. Mexican, Spanish, Japanese and even Indian restaurants have risotto in their menu. But the dish is very popular in new and old style French restaurants and not only in the United States. La Table de Joel Robuchon inTokyo and many other French restaurants in Asia have risotto (con Parmigiano) in their menu and get stars from French guides. The same that too often deliberately ignore quality Italian Restaurants in Japan as well as in Hong Kong and Macau. The GVCI appeal however flies much higher than guides, their critics and their stars. “The IDIC is born out of a mission”, says Mario Caramella, “We surely aim at educating worldwide consumers, but overall we want to protect their right to get what they pay for, when go to eateries labelled as Italian, that is, authentic and quality Italian cuisine”.