The Diplomat
As part of the Italian Cuisine Week initiatives in Spain, the Italian Embassy, in collaboration with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry for Spain and the Madrid branch of the Italian Cooking Academy, organised a meeting this week at the Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón in Madrid.
The event, aimed at patients and relatives, was presented by the director of the hospital, Sonia García de San José, and the Minister Counsellor Benedetto Giuntini, who recalled the four dimensions that are being developed in Spain in the framework of the promotion of the candidacy of Italian cuisine as Intangible Heritage of UNESCO: cultural, social, sporting and the training of young people.
The head of the economic and commercial office of the Italian Embassy, Roberto Nocella, then proceeded to the presentation of the event, which consisted of two parts. On the one hand, Prof. Ignacio Sánchez-Arcilla Conejo, head of the Hospital’s Occupational Risk Prevention Service and head of the “Healthy Hospital” programme, explained the benefits of the Mediterranean diet, while Maurizio di Ubaldo, president of the Madrid branch of the Italian Cookery Academy, spoke about the dissemination of Italian cuisine in Spain.
This was followed by Michelin-starred chef Giuseppe Tinari’s preparation of a broken spelt soup with saffron from Pizzoferrato. Earlier in the day, he had given a master class at the IES Hotel Escuela.
At the end of the event, the world acrobatic pizza champion, Pasqualino Barbasso, intervened with a show of acrobatics, music and virtuosity, an acrobatic pizza show that was later repeated at the IES Hotel Escuela and also at the Italian school, in this case in the presence of children and their families also linked to the Fundación Ana Carolina Díez Mahou (committed to the field of rare diseases).
In view of the success of the initiative, the Italian Embassy intends, in collaboration with other representations of the “Country System” in Spain (Consulates, Italian Cooking Academy, Italian Federation of Chefs, Chambers of Commerce, Enit, Com.It.Es), to launch a new line of promotion of the candidacy of Italian cuisine as a UNESCO heritage site in hospitals in Spain during the year 2024.
