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Fancy Food Show June 28 – 30: 350 Italian Companies Showcase Their Products

June 25, 2009

New York’s Fancy Food Show is on hand and many will make a pilgrimage to the Jacob Javits Center this weekend to see new products, old friends and get a feel for the market.

Oddly enough, Anna Dente, Chef at Osteria San Cesario, who we mentioned last week as part of our piece on Roman cooking in New York will be here soon than expected. She will be promoting a series of dishes on Sunday, June 28th, at the NASFT Summer Fancy Food Show at the Lotito Foods Booth #2745 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at New York City’s Javits Center.

While Anna is truly fascinating, there will be numerous other booths that attract attention this year, many with products from Italy. In fact, the Italian pavilion is the largest of any NASFT Fancy Food show, some 350 companies are exhibiting. The region of Calabria, also mentioned on this blog, is present with a variety of foods at the show as well.

The Italian Trade Commission is heavily involved in promoting Italian foods at the show and has also organized two seminars about Italian Food.

The two seminars are as follows:

IL MADE IN ITALY A TAVOLA: INGREDIENTI SALUTARI, QUALITA’ DEL CIBO E TUTELA GIURIDICA DEI PRODOTTI TIPICI NEGLI USA” (Made in Italy: healthy ingredients, quality of food, and juridical protection of Italian traditional products in the US)

WHEN: June 28, 4:30- 6pm
WHERE: Jacob Javits Convention Center, New York, Room 1E03
ABOUT: The seminar is divided into two sessions: in the first one Dr. Katherine McManus – Director of Nutrition Dept., Brigham Hospital, Boston – will talk about the healthy aspects of Mediterranean diet and Italian organic products; the second one is dedicated to Italian importers in the US. Members of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, LLP Law Office will talk about the juridical protection of Italian food products in the US .

WHY IS ITALIAN FOOD THE BEST DURING ECONOMIC HARD TIMES?”

WHEN: June 29, 4:30pm
WHERE: Jacob Javits Convention Center, New York, Room 2D08
ABOUT: The seminar is presented by Fred Plotkin, author of the best seller “Italy for the Gourmet Traveler”. The renowned Italian culinary expert writes for the New York Times, and for the trade journals “Gourmet” and “Bon Appetit”.

Leave a Comment » | Calabria, Cooking, Dining, Events, Italian Regions, Travelling | Tagged: Altacucina, Anna Dente, Fred Plotkin, Italian Pavillon, Lotito Foods, Mediterranean Diet, NASFT Fancy Food Show | Permalink
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Food For Thought: Identita’ London Set To Explore Innovative Themes June 28-29

June 18, 2009

Paolo Marchi, journalist and founder of Italian food conference and website Identita Golose, has just launched a new adventure which promises to create ferment in the culinary world of Italian chefs, Identità London. The Italian Chef Congress in London will be a place for chefs to exchange ideas and learn about other professionals’ techniques and ideas. Some of the questions that the chefs in London will pose are the same that chefs in New York are asking themselves as well. Issues that may arise include those of what makes Italian cooking authentic, is it the ingredients, the nationality of the cook, or some secret sauce. There is no one right answer surely to any of these issues.

Identità London will be held at Vinopolis World of Wine located next to the Southbank’s historic Borough Food Market. In addition to world renowned chefs, the event will showcase Italian artisanal producers.

The line-up of chefs includes Massimilano Alajmo, Le Calandre, Corrado Assenza, Caffé Sicilia, Massimo Bottura, Osteria Francescana, Moreno Cedroni, Madonnina del Pescatore, Carlo Cracco, Ristorante Cracco, Enrico Crippa, Ristorante Piazza Duomo, Anthony Genovese, Il Pagliaccio, Ernesto Iaccarino, Don Alfonso 1890, Norbert Niederkofler, St.Hubertus, Giovanni Santini, Dal Pescatore, Emanuele Scarello, Agli Amici, and Ciccio Sultano, Ristorante Duomo.

A few non-Italian chefs will also be presenting their ideas including Angela Harnett, Murano (UK) and Giorgio Locatelli, Locanda Locatelli (UK), Rene Redzepi, Noma (Denmark) and Alex Atala, D.O.M. Restaurante.

It sounds like a great event for those who can attend. Surely this first edition will be a success and if you can’t get there this year, you will have the opportunity in future years.

2 Comments | Cooking, Dining, Restaurants, Travelling | Tagged: Identita Golose, Identita London, Italian Chefs, Paolo Marchi | Permalink
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New Trends in New York Dining: Offal Based Dishes Abound

June 16, 2009

New York is famous for creating and perpetuating new trends in food, design, and everything else under the sun. One of the latest fashions comes from the butcher shops in Rome’s Testaccio area. At the end of the 19th century, these slaughterhouses created a variety of dishes which are now making a splash in New York. Dishes such as stewed oxtail (coda alla vaccinara), veal intestines in tomato (pagliata di vitella), tripe alla Romana and sweetbreads (animelle) are no longer oddities on just a few menus. Some of the older New York restaurants that serve these dishes have remained quite famous but it is the newcomers who will make these meals everyday fare. In fact, in recent months, a few restaurants which primarily serve these Roman dishes have opened, including Quinto Quarto and Sora Lella, to name a few. Quinto Quarto mean’s the fifth quarter. There are many interpretations of what this word means including that an animal has four legs which can be translated into four quarters. The fifth quarter is the offals or the interior part of the animal. Additionally, the offals taken together weigh one-quarter or the carcass of an animal.

Both of the restaurants which have opened in New York have sister restaurants in Italy. Quinto Quarto is part of David Ranucci’s empire. He owns two restaurants in Milan, Giulio, Pane e Ojo and Casa Tua and one in Montecarlo. Sora Lella instead is a very well known restaurant on Rome’s Isola Tiberina. The restaurant has been going for more than 50 years and the relatives of the original owner are now making their foray into the New York marketplace. Not only is this good for Roman cooking but also for wines from Lazio which have been woefully underrepresented on the New York market. Check out this post from a few months ago on Altacucina’s Website.

One well known Roman chef who has not yet come to New York but perhaps we will see her here in the future is Sora Anna. One never knows. Her son, Fabrizio, when speaking about the menu of offals jokingly called it the menu macabre. Check out their website Osteria di San Cesario

Sora Anna

Sora Anna is a true character and anyone traveling to Rome should check out her cuisine. She is the essence of this type of Roman cooking and character. If you can’t get to Rome though, at least, you now have more than one option.

Leave a Comment » | Dining, Italian Regions, Lazio, Restaurants, Travelling, Wining | Tagged: Dining Trends, Lazio Wines, Offals, Osteria di San Cesario, Quinto quarto, Roman Cooking, Sora Anna, Sora Lella, Testaccio | Permalink
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Pane di Altamura in Apulia- Terroir Exists For Foods As Well

June 9, 2009

Terroir that over used word which means a combination of place, soil, climate, prevailing winds, water sources and other factors all rolled into one is just as important for some food products as it is for wine.

Sure you can buy all the ingredients you want in order to make the famous bread from Altamura. You can even import the ingredients but will it taste the same as that delicious thickly crusted bread from the Apulia region of Italy? Not by a long shot.

Pane di Altamura was the first bread to receive protected status or Denominazione Orgine Protetta (DOP) in the European Union. The bread is made from hard semolina wheat, natural yeast from a previous batch (pasta acida o lievito madre), marine salt and water.

pane

Yes wonderful sourdough breads which are similar to this bread can be made in your kitchen but this bread relies on grains harvested from a specific small area in the province of Bari, a water source with exact specifications that reflect the waters in that area, and natural yeast that comes from a previous batch of the bread and that will not travel well. It must be cooked in a specific type of oven, etc, etc, etc.

However there is no need to despair. The bread was originally made to be taken out into the hills by the local shepards and it can last for anywhere between 10 days to two weeks. The best thing to do is buy it in Italy and bring it home. The bread is sold all over the country. Delicious with a straw yellow middle, this bread really can’t be replicated at home. For the exact item, you need to go to the source.

Pane di Altamura has been famous since the 15th century and it is said that the latin poet Horace mentioned it in 27 B.C. It has two very distinct names in pugliese: U sckuanète which is the taller of the two breads and a cappidde de prèvete or a priest’s hat. Some 35 companies still make the bread in this city.

While the bread is perhaps its most famous export, a recent film called Focaccia Blues that was shown in New York this week talks about Altamura and other products, specifically a little focaccia store which was able to oust McDonalds. No violence occurred but the people of Altamura just continued eating what they have always eaten, traditional, home made specialties.

Some things cannot be copied and this inimitable bread is one of them.

2 Comments | Baking, Cooking, Travelling | Tagged: Altacucina, Apulia, Bread, DOP, Focaccia Blues, Pane di Altamura, Terroir | Permalink
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