Italian Restaurants Today Reinforcing the Authenticity of Italian Cuisine in the U.S. Food is the most universal language, because it needs no translation, it speaks for itself. According to Statista, Italian restaurants in the United States have increased since 2012 from about 42,000 to almost 52,000 in 2019. Today, out of a total of almost 800,000 restaurants, about 100,000 are defined as Italian, representing about 12% of the entire sector.
Given that the restaurants absorb more than 40% of the Italian imports, there is a real opportunity to engage restaurant networks in the US in promoting genu- ine Italian products. The Italian Restaurants Today initiative is organized by the Italian Trade Agen- cy (ITA), a government entity that supports the promotion of authentic Italian products, business development of Italian brands abroad, and attracts foreign investments in Italy. On Tuesday, October 18, a media event hosted by the ITA, highlighted several campaigns focusing on Italian Restaurants and Italian Cui- sine. At the event, Antonino Iaspina, the Trade Commissioner at ITA of New York and Executive Director for the USA, discussed the launch of Italian Restaurants Today, and a virtual masterclass series offered during the campaign; www.ItRest-Today.com. The free masterclasses will be led by world-class chefs
ANTONINO LASPINA TRADE COMMISSIONER
such as Chef Ernesto Iaccarino, and Chef Andre Zanin. The series was created to nurture the use and ap- preciation of authentic Italian products, culinary techniques, and immersive dining experiences. It expects to inspire and motivate professional chefs of different backgrounds, to culinary excellence and reinforce the authenticity of Italian Cuisine in the US. Other culinary events include the celebration of World Pasta Day on October 24 at La Devozione, and World Week of Italian Cuisine November 14-20. According to Commissioner Laspina, the quality of the food and the way it is prepared are important to the new generation of consumers. To satisfy the growing global needs of these new consumers, restaurants have to adjust. Consumers are looking for the experience, freshness of ingredients without substitutions and authentic Italian cuisine down to the specific region of origin. Written by: Veronica Mclymont, author of the popular book EMBRACE YOUR BEST SELF,, FABULOUS AND HEALTHY AFTER 50, Now available https://a.co/d/b1G1U3T.
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