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October was a true Italian month for me.
Sponsored by Barilla
October was a true Italian month for me. Together with Tomasz and Mia we spent the whole month travelling around Italy and eating as much as possible. You may think that I know a lot by now, but to be honest, I have a feeling that I need at least an additional 5 years to learn just “enough” to be satisfied.
Thanks to Barilla, I did some learning, as on 24th and 25th of October I had a pleasure to take a part in the Pasta World Championship in Milan! The experience, I’ll remember for a long time, as this was the time when I truly start understood pasta.
There were 18 talented chefs from all over the world (Including German Sabrina Fenzl and Polish Paweł Galecki – yuppy!), cooking with a passion to become the master of pasta (one chef, unfortunately, did not make it at the last minute). The competition was friendly, but intense. We could walk around stations, where two chefs were competing at the time and observe everything, from choosing the ingredients, to chopping them, boiling water, baking, frying, adding spices and I was trying to get as much as possible from each one of them.
The most unique part for me was to observe the chefs of different origins preparing their idea of pasta. Believe me, they were all different. I used to think that you cook pasta by boiling some water, adding salt and then pouring some oil on it. It turned out, that there are many different ways. For example, you can fry some herbs in a pot first and then pour water for boiling. It adds a beautiful flavour to pasta (I learned it from Japanese chef – Meiju Hirata). Obviously you have to remember, that pasta has to be cooked properly, so when in doubt, check the package for suggested time. Believe me, this is a big thing, as one chef overcooked the pasta and… well… it’s not good.
We had a very good Jury, which I have to mention, so you can imagine the level of the competition:
Lorenzo Cogo – recipient of a Michelin Star an the age of 25.
Luigi Taglienti – chef who is famous for uniting the Italian tradition to the most modern techniques.
Viviana Varese – gained the title of best female chef in 2010th.
Holger Stromberg – he won his first Michelin Star at the age of 23.
Brittany Wright – great food photographer and artist.
Davide Oldani – one of the most fascinating thinkers in the Italian food world.
The first day was very interesting. Chefs were preparing their interpretation of “Acquolina” concept – creating a dish which embodies the beauty, the joy and pleasure of eating. Just imagine trying to figure out something like this! Not easy at all, I must say. But they did it like pros. The Jury had a big problems with choosing not once or even twice. Creativity and experience were visible everywhere around. The polish chef Paweł Galecki created a version of a polish dumpling by using hot mozzarella, filled with a pesto creation. Swedish chef Ludvig Salovuo (one of the youngest) created dish so beautiful, that we all photographed it till it got completely cold (oops). I must admit that it was a small haven for a photographer, because not only food creations were beautiful, but also each chef brought a plate from their country, which gave an additional unique character to the dish.
On the second day 9 winning chefs had to prepare a wellbeing dish and fight for high points to be able to go to the finals. This was when I could feel competition in the air and I already had my favourites, so I kept my fingers for most of the time. Again, it was not only cooking, each chef presented something unique and interesting. If you were a lucky one, you could taste a small plate of the awesomeness (I was :D).
The finals belong to Chinese chef Toby Wang and American – Carolina Diaz. They had to prepare their re-interpretation of “Spaghetti al Pomodoro”, which sounds easy enough for me. I was talking with some chefs around and I said that at least Barilla let the finalists relax a bit with an easy dish. As an answer each one of them said “you must be kidding, this is the classic and the most difficult one!” As I mentioned before I have to learn a lot but this lesson was learned. If I want to impress an Italian, I have to make a beautiful Spaghetti al Pomodoro. It will take me months to improve it, but I have an inspiration – the winner of the Pasta World Championship 2018th – Carolina Diaz! She was incredible, strong, focused and very creative from the beginning. You could see the passion in her. She owns an Italian restaurant in the USA, so you can imagine how much she loves this cuisine.
Congratulations Carolina! One thing is for sure – pasta is not Italian anymore, it’s international.
Sponsored by Barilla
6 Comments
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It always surprises me how much we can learn from professionals and passionate people 🙂
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Wspaniale kiedy można tak podglądać pracę mistrzów i jeszcze spróbować ich dzieł. Mam cichą nadzieję że kiedyś pojawi się u Ciebie post z inspiracją z włoskiego konkursu.
Szkoda że te piękne zdjęcia nie przenoszą zapachów i smaków.
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Ela, zaraz poszukam, myślę, że przepisy są na stronie Barilli 🙂
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How I wish I could have seen this event! Your pictures really capture the energy of what sounds like an exciting day! Gorgeous as always xx
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Thank you so much Mina
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Travelling a whole month through Italy sounds like a dream. It must have been amazing to watch the chefs in action, what a great event! I never thought about cooking pasta in different ways – I like the idea of frying herbs in a pot first before adding water to give it some flavour – great tip! Have a wonderful weekend ahead, Marta