Innovative Plans--Shown at the Century City meeting that revealed new promotion programs for the Italian Mediterranean diet are left to right Dr. Carlo Angelo Bocchi, Italian Trade Commission; Dr. Dena Herman, UCLA Center, and Patrizia Giarratana, Ministry of Economic Development.

"The Italians Are Coming" By The Editor


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Expect to learn more about Italian foods and the Mediterranean Diet in coming months. Just how this will take place was revealed at a conference sponsored by the Italian Trade Commission at the Hotel Intercontinental in Century City recently.

Actually the Mediterranean Diet has been awarded world heritage status by UNESCO, and this Diet is basically Italian lifestyle. Thanks to the electronic age information about the Diet and Italian foods, recipes and restaurant will all soon be available to everyone with an I Phone or I Pad. These applications have been created by Gambero Rosso, the publishing house that is considered the world authority on Italian food, wine and travel.

The Apps will be available free at Apple stores. Under the title Italian Made they make available everything from regional cuisines, recipes, ingredients like olive oil and wine and a list of authentic Italian restaurants in many American cities. The wine application will include a tour to learn about Italian enology, the importance of the wine's region and wine and food pairings.

Other programs include Club EATalian which was directed to children and young people and designed to fit in with the national campaign "Let's Move" with several West Side Italian Restaurants participating in the promotion. Restaurant Promotion--Some Italian Restaurants in Los Angeles will soon be displaying a metal plaque that certifies that they feature an authenic Italian cuisine. Shown above are Chiara Di Pietro of Gambero Rosso and Letizia Miccoli, executive director of the Italy-America Chamber of Commerce which is distributing the plaques.

In Southern California the Italy-America Chamber of Commerce West has researched and named thirty four restaurants that feature true Italian cuisine with Italian trained chefs and many imported authentic foods and wines. Each of these restaurants will show a handsome metal plate reading "Ospitalita Italiena--Quality Approved--Repubblica Italiene".

We might add that Italian restaurants are not in short supply in Southern California. Recently the Southern California Restaurant Writers named the best restaurants in the region and one hundred and ten Italian restaurants were on the list with ratings from five stars to two stars. Next to the category of American Cuisine it was the largest list.

In Italy Gambero Rosso is a power house with a TV channel, magazines, guides and cookbooks as well as cooking courses. At the Los Angeles meeting it was announced that this TV channel will soon be available on the web in the U.S.

All sounded very right for this Writer who, thanks to a grandmother and mother born in Italy, has enjoyed the Mediterranean Diet much of his life. However I just called it Grandma's cooking. Back to Table of Contents..

Last Update:6/1/11

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