5th Week of Italian Cuisine in the World
On the occasion of the 5th Week of Italian Cuisine in the World, join us for a discussion with Chef Carlo Cracco, movie director Maurizio Gigola and Mary Beth Albright, food expert and anchor at The Washington Post. The conversation will explore how culinary traditions are evolving leading to hybridization and new trends in Italian cuisine.
Food and cuisine are a unique characteristic to all cultures. Often, food is seen as a sign of who we are, where we come from, and who we want to be. Through cross-cultural interconnections and the wide availability of diverse flavors and ingredients, we have seen a change in local cuisines and a growth of food cultures promoting new hybrid gastronomies and identities, which embrace the acceptance and blending of new flavors and traditions.
WHEN: November 17, 2020 – 3PM ET
WHERE: Zoom Webinar
EVENT LANGUAGE: English
MARY BETH ALBRIGHT
Mary Beth Albright is the Food Anchor at The Washington Post. She is a food expert with broad experience, from National Geographic writer to finalist on Food Network Star, where she competed on Iron Chef America. She is a trusted, grounded voice in the Washington, D.C. food world and a “well rounded food person,” according to the James Beard Foundation. After competing for four months on Food Network Star, Chef Bobby Flay commented that Mary Beth “speaks so well about food, she makes us fall in love with food even more.”
She is a frequent panel moderator–including for the U.S. State Department and the Smithsonian–on topics as wide-ranging as culinary diplomacy, whether there is a science to restaurant criticism, and food films.
CARLO CRACCO
Carlo Cracco was born in Vicenza in 1965. After attending catering school he cooked with Gualtiero Marchesi in Milan (1986). After a series of internships with Alain Ducasse in Monte Carlo and Alain Senderens in Paris, he became the chef at Enoteca Pinchiorri in Florence (1991), 3 Michelin stars in 1994. In 1994 he returned to Marchesi at L’Albereta. Two years later he opened his first restaurant: Le Clivie in Piobesi d’Alba (Cuneo), 1 star the following year. In 2001 the Milanese experience began with Cracco-Peck, 2 Michelin stars the three following years. In July 2007 he took over the whole restaurant. In 2013 he became in charge of the menu at Carlo e Camilla in Segheria in Milan and he has been a consultant for Trussardi alla Scala in Milan, 1 star, for several times. In February 2018, he opened Cracco in Galleria, an ambitious project in Milan.
MAURIZIO GIGOLA
Maurizio Gigola began his career in Milan, between the birth of the first private radios and the explosion of the Made in Italy phenomenon towards the end of the ’70s.
He studied in San Francisco at the Academy of Arts University and in Italy he collaborated with maestro Luciano Emmer as a producer and director, making numerous successful documentaries and commercials.
In the 1990s he entered the world of Industrial Psychology, accepting to direct an Italian branch of P. A. Consulting and in the following twenty years, he collaborated with the most important companies in the Italian industrial and financial scenario (among other Fiat – Cattolica Assicurazione – Banco Popolare). In addition, he collaborated with Ogilvy and created one of the very first long-distance learning platforms, becoming a partner of Psychological Associates of San Louis (MO) for which he founded and directs DW ITALIA.
Between 2016 and 2018 he dedicated himself in creating a documentary film about the life of chef Gualtiero Marchesi.
Today he works between Italy and San Francisco, where he founded a startup, The Longevity Project, devoted to explore how the Mediterranean diet is a transnational, intangible asset that can prolong life when combined with biodiversity, healthy lifestyles, beauty and art.