Hundreds of chefs in more than 50 countries will be cooking tagliatelle al ragù alla Bolognese simultaneously on January 17, 2010, in celebration of International Day of Italian Cuisines.  Each year, chefs around the world prepare an authentic Italian dish to promote and maintain the identity of Italian cuisine on international markets.  “The International Day of Italian Cuisines is without a doubt a celebration of Italian flavors and culinary culture,” says food writer Rosario Scarpato.

On January 13 during a Gala Dinner at the Italian Culinary Academy (ICA) in New York City, the Italian Cuisine Worldwide Awards will be announced to recognize individuals worldwide who stand out in their dedication to promoting genuine Italian culinary culture. The dinner will be prepared by Chicco and Roberto Cerea, chef patrons of Da Vittorio, Brusaporto, in the province of Bergamo, who recently received their third Michelin star, and who are two of Italy’s most prominent chefs.

 “Due to its history, NYC is the ideal capital of worldwide Italian cuisine,” says Cesare Casella, executive chef of Salumeria Rosi in the Big Apple, and leader of the Virtual Group of Italian Chefs (GVCI) organizer of the event. Casella is also director of the Italian Culinary Studies of New York International Culinary Institute.

Tagliatelle al ragù, an iconic dish of the city of Bologna and its surroundings, is one of the most popular dishes of Italian cuisine and therefore, say the organizers, highly “counterfeited” around the world. “We want to let Italian food lovers all around the world know how to cook and enjoy a quality authentic tagliatelle al ragù which, in the majority of the cases, has nothing to do with the awful, wrongly called ‘bolognaise sauces,’” says GVCI’s President Mario Caramella.

Participating in a symbolic collective cooking of tagliatelle in the New York City premiere, is Mario Batali, the American chef who, perhaps more than any, has contributed to acquainting the USA with modern oenogastronomic Italy. Batali is a scholar of ragù alla bolognese, having taken his first steps as chef in the city of Bologna and the surrounding province.

The International Day of Italian Cuisines is organized by the Virtual Group of Italian Chefs (GVCI).  The event celebrates the authenticity and quality of Italian cuisine. Each year, hundreds of chefs around the world prepare an authentic Italian dish. The Italian Culinary Academy (The ICA), founded in 2007 as a sister school to the world-renowned French Culinary Institute, offers the country’s most rigorous education in authentic Italian cuisine. For more information, go to www.ItalianCulinaryAcademy.com.

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