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Italian cuisine is renowned for encompassing a wide range of regional flavours. It focuses on natural ingredients and follows the Mediterranean way of eating, making it one of the world's healthiest diets. The cuisine is famous not only for pasta and lasagne, but also for dishes that use fresh and healthy ingredients such as olive oil, fruits and vegetables, seafood and whole grains. Armed with a mission to promote authentic Italian food in the region, the Italian Trade Agency (ITA), the Trade Promotion Office of the Italian Embassy, will be hosting the Italian Food Lab for the second year in a row at Gulfood 2018.
In an interview with Khaleej Times, Gianpaolo Bruno, Trade Commissioner to the UAE, Oman and Pakistan, ITA, shares: "Recent international statistics highlight that Italians are slightly behind the Japanese when it comes to having a longer lifespan. One of the reasons for this achievement is that we have one of the best cuisines in the world."
The commissioner explains that Gulfood is an ideal platform to showcase the strengths of 'Made in Italy' products, as the exhibition is a major platform in the Middle East for companies looking to export agri-business products and concepts, and attracts interest from all over the region and beyond.
Bruno highlights: "This year, 190 Italian companies will be participating in the exhibition and they are looking forward to finding partners in order to build long-term commercial relations, not only in the UAE but also in the MENA and MENASA region."
ITA's pavilion at Gulfood will host seminars focused on the Italian agri-business value chain, talks on seals of quality, as well as discussions on the requirements of the market that would help exporters understand the rules and regulations to follow in order to place their products in this market.
The Agency will also host a programme of culinary demonstration and gastronomic tasting hosted by a number of famous chefs, including a session with the three-starred Michelin chef, Heinz Beck, who is one of the most renowned chefs in the world.
"The celebrity chef will be performing a masterclass where he will create Italian dishes from scratch using his creativity and flair and his knowledge of Italian ingredients and dishes," says Bruno. "The Italian Food Lab is almost like a festival that we are organising. Being a government organisation, we won't be promoting a single company, as we don't want to give an unfair advantage. Although at the culinary demonstrations, individual companies will be able to showcase their produce for the first time in the market."
Focus on quality
ITA will offer a fully-fledged programme at Gulfood with an aim to educate, raise awareness of the genuineness of Italian agricultural products and to shed light on the seals of quality that the European Union (EU) assigns to food products. These include the Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) and Protected Geographical Indication (PGI). Currently, 293 Italian products have been awarded these prestigious labels.
Bruno explains: "These are products that deserve special protection and certification by the EU because they are conceived and produced in particular areas of the Italian region and sometimes they face the problem of the 'Italian-sounding' effect. This means that people from other parts of the world try to replicate this product by just embossing Italian flags onto the packaging of this product or put names that resemble PDO and PGI, but they are not true Italian products. This is causing a lot of damage and hindering a lot of companies in terms of turnover and job losses."
He highlights that this was just a single example of how these Italian-sounding products, which are made in tens and hundreds, create unfair competition in the market. "We would like to educate consumers and the distribution sector that sometimes they have to pay a premium price to get an Italian product, but it is worth it, as there is true genuineness incorporated," he adds.
320 million Italian exports to the UAE 190 Italian companies participating in Gulfood 2018 293 Italian products awarded with PDO and PGI |
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