The Queen of Taste 2023: high-altitude catering and hospitality protagonists in Cortina

There are just a few days left until the event in Cortina d'Ampezzo (Belluno) celebrates mountain cuisine with gourmet dishes, delicacies from high altitude territories and authoritative guests. The seventh edition of The Queen of Taste 2023 will be staged on Saturday 9 and Sunday 10 September , the festival of taste organized by the Cortina for Us association and Chef Team Cortina , in collaboration with Globetrotter Gourmet and sponsored by the Municipality of Cortina, by Cortina Dolomiti , by the Province of Belluno and by the Veneto Region. Among the guests of the event is the Calabria Region which, thanks to the mastery of two authoritative Calabrian chefs, will bring the mountain flavors that best describe this area to the heart of Cortina. It all starts on Saturday at 5.00 pm with the inauguration aperitif: on the stage in Piazza Angelo Dibona the organizers will present the two days and toast together with Objective3 - a project born from the idea of Alex Zanardi who overcomes barriers and disabilities through sporting activity - thus creating a new and fundamental synergy between catering, culture, sport and inclusiveness. Here, alongside the food and wine expert and critic Marco Colognese, the godmother of Objective3 Giusy Versace , the marketing manager Barbara Manni and the Paralympic cyclist Michele Grieco will intervene for a greeting. After the aperitif, the StrEat Chef traveling dinner starts at 5.30pm : 5 stages, 14 protagonists of mountain catering and as many culinary proposals which will contain quality, mastery, creativity and territory in a single dish. Sunday 10 September at 9.30am opens with the conference The courage of difference at the Mario Rimoldi Ciasa De Ra Regoles Museum. A series of talks with prestigious speakers moderated by Marco Colognese: the topics covered will follow three main threads that will tell stories of isolation , school and hospitality and the encounter between mountain biodiversity . An opportunity to present the GustArte Paesaggi workshop, promoted by the Hotel Institute and the Artistic High School of the Valboite Omnicomprehensive, together with Chef Team Cortina and Cortina for Us and thanks to the support of UnipolSai Zandonella and Cortina Banca, which will involve 21 fourth grade students superior. Furthermore, the conference will feature a speech by Andrea Sinigaglia, general director of ALMA – The International School of Italian Cuisine . For this edition of the event, the institute based in the Royal Palace of Colorno (Parma) is making two scholarships available to two talented students for the ALMA Summer School, which will take place in July 2024 and which brings together the most deserving students of the Hotel institutes throughout Italy. Following, from 12.30 pm in the suggestive Piazza della Conchiglia in Cortina, the appointment with StrEat Lunch : four guest chefs from Trentino, Alto Adige, Emilia Romagna and Abruzzo, together with the hosts of Chef Team Cortina, will guide the guests in a lunch in the name of mountain flavors declined in never banal interpretations. Pre-registration for the StrEat Chef and StrEat Lunch events is mandatory. Tickets can be purchased online at the link www.thequeenoftaste.cortinaforus.it/eventi, in person at the Sovilla Bookshop (Piazza Silvestro Franceschi, 11, Cortina d'Ampezzo) or at the Cooperativa di Cortina stationery department (Corso Italia, 40, Cortina d'Ampezzo 'Ampezzo). Participation in the conference, on the other hand, is free until all available places are filled.

Program: details

Saturday 9 September

5.00 pm : aperitif in Piazza Angelo Dibona with Obiettivo3 and with the partners of the event, moderated by Marco Colognese. 5.30 pm : departure for StrEat Chef, the itinerant dinner will touch 5 locations. At Baita Fraina it will be possible to taste the dishes created by the owner Luca Menardi, by Luigi Dariz of the Da Aurelio restaurant and by the chef Andrea Valentinetti. At Villa Oretta Luigino Anzanello will host his neighbor Valentino Cecconi of Fvsion and the Calabrian flavors of chef Giuseppe Lamanna of Cà del Moro Wine Resort in Valpantena. The resident chef Fabio Pompanin will be on stage at the Camin , together with the Tivoli * restaurant and Stefano Camata from the 1992 restaurant (Treviso). Carlo Festini from Lago Scin will be accompanied by his colleague Nicola Bellodis from Rio Gere and the Emilian spirit with Calabrian influences of Guglielmo Araldi from the Carracci Hotel Majestic in Bologna. To conclude, the sweetness of Pasticceria Alverà with the owner Massimo and the Abruzzo inspiration of Sandro Ferretti.

Sunday 10 September

9.30 am : conference The courage of difference , moderated by Marco Colognese, will host: Alfio Ghezzi of the bistro of the same name Senso * at the Mart in Rovereto (TN), Theodor Falser of the Johannesstube * in Nova Levante (BZ), the Trentino foraging expert Eleonora “Noris” Cunaccia, Andrea Sinigaglia general director of ALMA – The International School of Italian Cuisine, Massimo Alverà and Graziano Perst of Chef Team Cortina, the Principal Paolo Lamon and professor Elena Gaspari of the Valboite Institute, the Calabria Region, the president Christian Marchesini of the Valpolicella Wine Protection Consortium, the director Lavinia Zamaro of the Collio Wine Protection Consortium and the director Luca Giavi of the Prosecco DOC Protection Consortium. 12.30 pm : StrEat Lunch starts which, together with the host Graziano Perst and Chef Team Cortina, will feature Alfio Ghezzi from Senso *, Theodor Falser from Johannesstube *, Giuseppe Gasperoni from Osteria Povero Diavolo * in Poggio Torriana (RN) and dulcis in fundo the pastry chef Giovanna De Vincentis.

The Queen of Taste 2023 counts on the support of Audi Main Partner of the Municipality of Cortina d'Ampezzo, UnipolSai Zandonella Premium Partner of Cortina For Us, Consorzio Tutela Vini Collio, Consorzio Tutela Vini Valpolicella, Consorzio Tutela Prosecco DOC and Unipol. To these are added San Benedetto, Coppini, Petra, Lavazza, La Cooperativa, Bonaventura Maschio, Heko, Fondazione Cortina, Cortina Banca, Piave DOP and Prosciutterie srl. Also worth mentioning are the collaborations with Cortina Express, GiocHotel, Nardi, Majoni, Chalet Tofane, Moser, Carine, Max Catering, Lis, Hotel Villa Argentina, Appennino Food Group. For the first time, Gourmet Reporter , digital editorial reference for food and wine in Italy and around the world and official media partner of the event, will accompany the event.