POST EVENT - The Authentic Italian Table 20th June, 2021 - Shanghai

21 六月 2021

Dear Members and Friends of the CICC,

The China-Italy Chamber of Commerce (CICC) is glad to inform you that the event “The Authentic Italian Table”
was successfully held on Sunday June 20th, 2021 at The Shangrila Jingan Hotel. The event had a large turnout as 17 vendors shared their authentic Italian products, 7 industry experts shared their informative knowledge, while more than 130 guests attended and benefited from the event.

This event is part of the project "True Italian Taste", promoted and financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation in collaboration with the Italian Chambers of Commerce abroad, and it aims at enhancing and safeguarding the authentic Italian agri-food productions. "True Italian Taste" is part of the program "The Extraordinary Italian Taste".

The event was opened by Alessandra Palumbo, Commercial Consul of Consulate General of Italy in Shanghai, who gave a warm welcome to all the participants.

The institutional greetings by Cristiano Varotti , General Manager of the Shanghai Representative Office of ENIT Italian National Tourist Board, outlined the essential connection between food and travel destitionations.

Following, CCIC Vice Chairman, Valtero Canepa, who shared his own experience in local market, introduced the significance and importance of the authenticity of Italian food and wine and how to choose the proper product.

In addition, Prof. Andrea Lorenzo Baldini, Director of NJU Center for Sino-Italian Cultural Studies, gave an engaging speech regarding "Culinary Authenticity", which defined the event them from a cultural and history point of view.

At the end of the presentation, the public was invited to take part to a F&B Companies exhibition tour, where they had the opportunity to know more about the authentic Italian products and to taste them.

During the event, a series of activities aimed at actively involving the participants was also organized.

One of the activities was the professional cooking show by the experienced Italian Chef Riccardo Messina from The Lab, who, using DOP and IGP certified Italian products, presented two typical italian dishes. After the show, a qualified jury of experts and the participants tasted the dishes prepared by the chefs and voted for the "The Best Authentic Italian Dish Shanghai 2021".

Following, the Roundtable took place with a focus on "Enogastronomic Tourism". The Roundtable was moderated by Cristina Corsini, President of the Association for the Promotion of Italian Food and Wine Culture and the Enhancement of Italian Restaurant Techniques in mainland China , Hong Kong and Macao, and the following speakers and experts in the field:

Cristiano Varotti, General Manager of the Shanghai Representative Office, ENIT Italian National Tourist Board;
Nicola Sifone, Italian Official Tour Guide;
Sara Zhang,Lifestyle KOL, Digital Marketing Expert, Host and Producer of ’’Conoisseur’’ wine show;
Edward Liu,President of Sinodrink.

Some of the guests had also the opportunity to participate in the Wine Tasting, where they tasted different Italian wines DOC and DOCG.

The event continued with "The Pasta Competition" , four dishes from four regions prepared by the following chefs:

Riccardo Messina, from the Lab Shanghai, represented Lombardia and prepared Pasta Gorgonzola with nuts;
Roberto Bernasconi, from ristorante Portomatto represented Toscana and Liguria, prepared spaghetti al Fumo and gnocchi al pesto;
Carmine from ristorante Mammamia! represented Campania prepared ravioli capresi.

We would like to thank Sinodrink, Campari Group, Dynamigs for continuing collaboration offering typical Italian drinks to our guests; Costadoro and Mio Expresso exhibited their coffee beans and offered excellent varies types of coffee; and the gelato provided by Sammontana.
We thank again for all the sponsors for the supporting the Authentic Italian Table event and project:

Alcenero
Campari
CNIT
Costadoro
Dynamigs
Good Italy
Gustitalia
Mio Espresso
Olieria Manenti
Peroni
Portomatto
Sammontana
Sinodrink
The lab

All the pictures of the event are available at the following link.

CICC would like to thank also The Shangrila Shanghai Jingan Hotel and Interexpo for the support.

Finally, we would like to thank as Media Partners: Shanghai Thats Shanghai, Shanghai Daily and Social Cloud.