The 2017 Italian Cuisine Week will feature Millennials and East Coast universities, under the direction of the Consulate General of Italy in Boston.

The world’s second Italian Cuisine Week will begin in the Massachusetts capital on Sunday, November 12, at the Dante Alighieri School in Cambridge with Duello ai fornelli, a cooking competition between the Italian student associations of Harvard, MIT, Northeastern and Boston University which are federated with NISA, the New England Italian Students Association.

Teams will compete to cook the best Pasta alla Norma.

On November 17, as part of the program of events for Italian Cuisine Week, there will be a benefit gala, conceived and organized from the promoter of Italian language and culture Casit Boston together with the Italian Consulate General in Boston.

The event’s objective is to bring together different bodies from the Italian and Italo-American community and to collect funds for the promotion of Italian language and culture.

“The second annual Italian Cuisine Week in Boston, like the first, will represent an important moment of coming together and highlighting our excellence, using cuisine to focus on an integrated promotion of the Italian System,” states the Italian Consul General in Boston, Nicola De Santis. “In particular, I wish to point out, among the various events, the special edition of the now classic ‘Duello ai Fornelli,’ where students and researchers from prestigious local universities will compete to cook the best Pasta alla Norma, and the first Patrons of the Italian Language Gala, a benefit promoting Italian language and culture during which we will highlight,” continues Consul General De Santis, “our country’s image through its many excellent offerings, from language to opera, from design to technology, with cuisine as the thread running through it all.

“The Patrons of the Italian Language Gala brings to Boston an authentic piece of Italy as has never been done before,” declares Francesco Fragasso, Board Member of CASIT and Chairman of the Patrons of the Italian Language. “The Patrons of the Italian Language is a program sponsored by the Italian Consulate in Boston created to promote fundraising for the promotion of Italian language and culture in New England schools.”

“The objective,” continues Fragasso, “is to arouse a passion for Italian language, innovation, fashion and cuisine, bringing the best of Italy to our schools and universities. During the current school year alone we have supported the teaching of Italian for more than 12,000 students and 80 teachers.” 

“It’s always an honor to contribute to spreading the knowledge of Italian cuisine in the United States,” declares Marco de Ceglie, CEO of America Filippo Berio. “We are excited to collaborate with our official representatives to show new consumers the quality and taste of our food. Historic Italian brands,” concludes de Ceglie, “like Filippo Berio play an important role in this process owing to their tradition and decades-long presence on the American market”.