13/12/2025

LYFE SATURDAY | DEC 13, 2025

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o Italian cusine: Daily, ancient sacred ritual U NESCO recognised that Italian food is more than pasta, pizza and gelato, adding the range and ritual Generational cultural heritage

international restaurant market in 2024, Deloitte said. Sadly, imitation products abroad cost Italy an estimated 120 billion euros annually. Culinary rival, France, in 2010 won Unesco recognition for “the gastronomic meal of France”. Designed for a celebratory affair, France’s meal began with an aperitif and ended with liqueurs, comprising of four courses. In Rome’s Trastevere neighbourhood, the co-owner of the small “Da Gildo” trattoria, Leonora Saltalippi, said Italy’s cuisine will forever be in gratitude to centuries of mothers and grandmothers. “It is all a heritage born from the vision of women in the kitchen,” the 43-year-old restaurateur shared. Women “have cooked for centuries and found, in the small things from the land and the evolution of the ages, a flavour that starts with oil and ends up in everything they touch,” she said. Pouring a delicate stream of olive oil over a plate of fettuccini with artichokes, she noted that across the country, every family had their own recipe, “with nothing written down”. Customer Tiziana Acanfora, 51, added: “What certainly makes the difference is the care and love with which things in general are prepared, not just the kitchen.” At a table nearby, American tourist Naomi King polished off an oxtail stew “that I would recommend a hundred times over”. “Italian food is one of the better foods in terms of flavour in the world,” she acknowledged, highlighting the huge variety she and her husband had eaten since arriving in Italy. The focus on local fruits and vegetables also made the difference, she added. “Italians know how to take that and make it into something special.” – AFP

of the famed cuisine to its list of intangible cultural heritage this week. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, whose hard-right government has championed products made in Italy as part of her nationalist agenda, hailed the recognition that she said “honours who we are and our identity, because for us Italians, cuisine is not just food or a collection of recipes. It is so much more: it is culture, tradition, work, wealth.” Pizza-making in Naples already features on UN cultural agency’s list of intangible heritage, as does espresso coffee. Meloni’s government proposed the much wider cucina italiana in 2023. The government said it was the first time the entire scope of a nation’s cuisine has made the cut. “There is no single Italian cuisine, but a mosaic of local expressive diversities. From Lombardy’s ossobuco and braised veal shanks with gremolata to Puglia’s orecchiette con cime di rapa and ear-shaped pasta with turnip greens, each region showcases the diversity found in Italian ingredients and the creativity it takes to put them together,” it said. Meloni has championed the effort, calling Italian food a symbol of “culture, identity, tradition and strength”. Industry groups estimate Unesco recognition could add 18 million overnight stays, boosting tourism by up to 8% in two years. Italian cuisine also connects 59 million residents with up to 85 million people of Italian descent worldwide. Internationally, Italian food service market has hit 251 billion euros (RM1.2 trillion) or 19% of the

Italian cusine is grearing towards recognition of its own diversity. – 123RFPIC

Real royal feasting at Nobel Prize banquet I N a bustling kitchen at Stockholm’s city hall, chefs have gathered to prepare an intricate dinner with a secret menu – and a family twist – for the scientists and royalty converging in Sweden this week, at the Nobel Prize banquet. More than 40 chefs are entrusted with the task of making the three course-meal for the annual banquet, where guests include a generous slice of the country’s who’s who, Sweden’s royal family and the laureates and their families. “We want to implement our way of cooking and put together this dinner for 1,300 people,” said Pi Le, who together with Tommy Myllymaki is in charge of the first two courses for this year.

“Take something that you recognise in flavour and add a little bit of a twist.” The two chefs normally run a two-star Michelin restaurant on Stockholm’s Djurgarden island. The menu was set at the end of September after “a lot of experimenting,” Myllymaki said. A closely guarded secret, the menu won’t be revealed until the guests – the men in white ties and tails and women in evening gowns – are seated at the 59 tables, filling The Blue Hall on Wednesday. But the chefs share some tidbits between the vines. Nordic forest ingredients such as dried porcini mushrooms will be featured for the first course, sloe berries and wild raspberries for dessert, while 400 bottles of champagne will be

Inside Blue Hall at City Hall (Stadshuset) in Stockholm, Sweden, where The Nobel Prize Banquet will be hosted.

reinforcements to keep to the targeted time. My dad, mom and sister came to help,” Le said. Nobel pastry chef Frida Backe – returning for a second year – has drawn on childhood days spent in the forest with her grandparents when creating this year’s dessert. Sloe berries are a “little bit of a forgotten berry. It takes a little bit of stubbornness and creativity to work with them,” she said. – AFP

served with the starter. Yet for the chefs, the banquet is also a family affair. The tableware has been updated for the first time since it was created more than thirty years ago, with an oak butterknife developed by Le’s brother. Hand-making the 1,300 knives, with wood from southern Sweden, was a labour of love. “We needed to bring in

Le (left) and Myllymaki preparing to cook at City Hall. – PICS FROM REUTERS