World Pasta Day & Congress is near, and the programme is always richer and moreinteresting!
On World Pasta Day, this coming 25 October, there will be a pasta festival in the true sense of the word and to help celebrate it, as well as the reference authorities of the industrial and institutional world, such as UNESCO (whose Italian Commission has granted its patronage to the event), the pluri-Michelin-starred Massimo Bottura who will describe his vision of pasta between tradition and modernity, and other celebrities. It will be moderated by the British journalist Alex Thomson, Channel 4, backbone of the TV channel.
Francine Segane, one of America’s foremost experts on Italian cuisine, is an engaging public speaker, author and TV personality and she will tell us how pasta is commonly perceived by food bloggers, artisan pasta makers, and vanguard chefsnoted.
Danielle Nierenberg, is President of Food Tank and expert on sustainable agriculture and food issues. She has written extensively on gender and population, the spread of factory farming in the developing world and innovations in sustainable agriculture. She will provide an overview of the “food issue” under a geopolitical viewpoint.
We are nowadays experiencing an incredible paradox in trying to find a balance between hunger and obesity. During dinner at the “Terrace of Italy Palace”, another famous chef, the Italian-American chef Bruno Serato, shows that pasta, as highly nutritious and affordable, can be part of the solution to this problem. The chef, included in 2013 by CNN among the ten heroes of the year, will be awarded by Italian pasta makers for its efforts, through its “Caterina’s Club” of Anaheim (California), to serve more than 1,200 needy children, a nutritionally balanced meal based on pasta and fresh vegetables, 365 days a year.
The following two days, Monday 26 and Tuesday 27, there are multiple sessions on the themes of environment, innovation and nutrition, attended by top-level speakers.
On 26 October, the IPO President Riccardo Felicetti will introduce an important issue: the fight against the misinformation on the relevant role of carbohydrates in every meal. The “Truth about Pasta” is an IPO project finalized to change the perception about pasta by informing, educating and encouraging you to eat pasta, as part of a diet and a healthy lifestyle.
If the pasta is an excellent response to the challenges of today “in feeding the planet”, how much pasta is produced, distributed, and consumed in the world? There are growing markets? The availability of raw materials is a problem? These questions will be answered in the Pasta is global: overview of wheat and pasta market trends session by Jack Skelly, Packaged Food Analyst at Euromonitor International.
Fernanda Roggero reputed journalist of Il Sole 24 Ore, describes the healthfulness status of world population and indicates its expectations, needs and features from the food of the future.
Carmen La Macchia, Professor of Foggia University (Italy), reassures sufferers of celiac disease about that they can keep eating pasta in future by presenting the outcome of a recent research showing how to reconcile the technological and nutritional properties of wheat proteins with the safety for celiac patients, with gluten sensitive and overall wellness.
During the Pasta is good for the planet session Duncan Williamson, from WWF UK and Riccardo Valentini, Professor of Tuscia University (Italy) have the chance to explain that few foods can boast a “sustainability index” as high as pasta.
The closing session Pasta is good for your health is maybe the most important one and it will take place on October 27. The scientific evidence on the nutritional values of pasta and its central role in the Mediterranean diet are confirmed by a group of international nutritionists (established by IPO and coordinated by the Oldways) who will meet to update the statement of Scientific Consensus on the benefits of pasta and will present the new document during the nutritional session. Sara Baer-Sinnott, President of Oldways will introduce the Panel of nutritionists. Kantha Shelke, will present the 2015 Scientific Consensus Statement on Healthy Pasta Meals. David L. Katz MD MPH Founding Director Yale University Prevention Research Center Griffin Hospital will explain “COMMUNICATING THE TRUE HEALTH MESSAGE”.
