The 2018 will be, for Piedmont and Italy, the year of the Bocuse. And the next edition of the Festival of Food Journalism could not be, in part, connected with the Bocuse. Perhaps the general public does not know this event well, but for the world of haute cuisine and, above all for journalism that follows the emerging talents of haute cuisine, this is an essential event. However, for the first time in its history, the traveling event of the Bocuse d'Or Europe will take place in Southern Europe. After Norway, Switzerland, Belgium, Sweden and Hungary, it is Italy, and more precisely, Piedmont, to have been chosen by the organizers of the competition to host the European final of the Bocuse d'Or 2018. A decision that rewards the will of one of the Southern European countries, with a strong international gastronomic tradition, to demonstrate, like the countries of Northern Europe, present since the beginning of the competition, its ability to be one of the actors key to the Bocuse d'Or, the "Everest" of the Kitchen. Piedmont has numerous assets to make this competition the ideal showcase for Europe's largest cooking competition: many products that express a rich territory (the Alba white truffle, the Piedmont hazelnut, the Piedmontese Fassona meat , 9 DOP cheeses ...), starred chefs (8 restaurants with 1 star in Turin, Piazza Duomo with 3 stars in Alba and dozens of others throughout the region) and an exceptional equipment and products show organized by GL events. In fact, Gourmet ExpoForum will host the competition at the Lingotto Fiere. 11 and 12 June 2018, in the presence of the Italian chef Enrico Crippa, president of this selection, 20 young European chefs, winners of their respective national selections, will try to succeed Tamas Szell (Hungary) in winning the European Trophy and winning thus the place for the 17 ° Bocuse d'Or world final scheduled in January 2019 at the Sirha of Lyon. The beginning of a new course The 2017 edition of the Italian Selection of the Bocuse d'Or represents the beginning of a new course, a new approach to what is the most important and difficult competition for professional chefs in the world and in which Italy has never been able to demonstrate its real value. The need to bring a competitive Italian team that can best represent our country has long been strongly felt within the national gastronomic world and starting from this edition of the competition, through the creation of the Bocuse d'Or Italia Academy , the approach to this great challenge will be carried out in a more organized and structured way, through a new working group that will focus solely on the formation of the candidate and on the preparation of the difficult continental selections and the final in Lyon. The Bocuse d'Or Italy Academy is located in Alba, Piedmont, the center of a part of the territory that makes food and wine excellence one of its core values and that has always defended and exported the culinary tradition of our country all over the world . This project therefore sees the support of the Piedmont Region, DMO Piemonte Marketing, Città di Alba and CRC Foundation, as well as the participation at an operational and administrative level of the Alba Bra Langhe Roero Tourist Office and the International White Truffle Fair Organization of Alba . It will be Enrico Crippa of the 3 Michelin Stars Piazza Duomo of Alba who will lead the Bocuse d'Or Italy Academy as President, together with the Director Luciano Tona (former director of ALMA, restaurateur, now consultant and leading figure of Italian gastronomy for more than 30 years). The great innovation that the Bocuse d'Or Italy Academy, however, lies in what will happen next to the Italian Selection. Thanks to the creation of this new permanent institution it will be possible to create a stable training box at the Exhibition and Congress Building of the city of Alba where the whole Team Italy will be able to train on a permanent basis for the next tests. Thanks to constant training under the careful supervision of the President and Director of the Academy, the support of the best Italian chefs and the intervention of specialized technicians in the various areas, the Italian candidate will be able to face the European Selection of Torino 2018 and the eventual Lyon 2019 final with the adequate preparation required from a technical, gastronomic, psychological and resource point of view. European selection in Turin The first capital of Italy and today the gateway to discover Piedmont, Turin stands out among the Italian cities for the rich range of artistic and cultural events of international appeal and, with the Bocuse d'Or 2018, is consecrated as the capital of taste. Turin, for the first time in Italy, therefore hosts the European Final of the Bocuse d'Or 2018. After the 2016 final in Budapest, Turin and Piedmont are ready to take the helm of this extraordinary event thanks to the Department of Culture and Tourism of the Piedmont Region and DMO Piemonte Marketing, in synergy with the City of Turin and the Chamber of Commerce of Turin, and thanks to the support of the Ministries of Agriculture and Culture and Tourism. The competition will be held at the Gourmet ExpoForum 2018 fair at the Lingotto Fiere, where the 10 June will also host the final of the European Pastry Cup. European pastry cup in Turin connected to Bocuse The European Pastry Cup, the European selection of the 2019 Pastry World Cup, in synergy with the Bocuse d'Or Europa, will be held for the first time in Turin, in the heart of Piedmont, the 10 June 2018. From 10 to 12 June 2018 Turin will be the European capital of gastronomy, when Gourmet Expoforum will host 2 of the most prestigious and celebrated culinary and confectionery competitions: the European Pastry Cup and the Bocuse d'Or Europe. After a first edition in 2012 in Paris, followed by Geneva in the 2014 and 2016, for the 2018 edition the European Pastry Cup has chosen Italy, a country known for the art of its master ice cream makers and pastry chefs. With the victory in the 2015, Italy was the last country to have won the world cup final of the Pastry World Cup. The Italian team had already won the trophy in the 1997, also securing 2 silver and three bronze medals. With an uninterrupted presence on the podium from the 2009 to the 2015, it therefore appears quite natural that this great gourmet nation will host the most prestigious pastry art competition in Europe. The European Pastry Cup is the European final for the qualification of the 3 teams that will participate in the World Cup final of the Pastry World Cup, which will be held in Lyon during the Sirha Exhibition in January 2019. This competition is one of the most challenging events within the selection process and in previous editions has highlighted new talented nations in pastry art such as Sweden, the United Kingdom and Denmark. In the future the European Pastry Cup will become a biennial traveling event in the Europe of confectionery excellences.
