The General Consulate of Italy in Jeddah held a press conference on the occasion of the beginning of the “World Week of the Italian Cuisine” at the Radisson SAS Hotel which is overlooking the splendor waterfront of Jeddah on Sunday 18 November.
It’s worth to mention that all the Italian diplomatic missions around the world celebrate this occasion annually under the direct supervision of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Moreover, the celebration this year will start from Monday the 18th to Sunday the 24th of November 2019, as the Italian Consulate will hold several Italian cooking classes presented by two Italian chefs coming from Italy especially for the occasion. In addition to banquet dinner, trattoria style dinner and the big event of the Street Food Festival in cooperation with different local luxurious hotels and restaurants in Jeddah.
Stefano Stucci, Consul General of Italy, starts the Press Conference by thanking the audience for attending the press conference and expressing his gratitude to the Saudi businessman Mr Waleed Abu Dawood, executive director of the Danube Group, saying it’s a pleasure and a great honor to hold this partnership with the Danube Group. It means a lot to Italy because food is culture, in addition, food is one of the main factors of investment in Italy and it’s one of our jobs to bring more Italian products to Jeddah while the Danube is one of the biggest food distributors not only in Saudi Arabia but in the Middle East, he added. Finally, before concluding his speech, the Italian Consul General presented the emergency initiative launched by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to help Venice after the floods that took place the previous days.
Then, Mr Waleed Abu Dawood expressed his thanks and gratitude to the collaboration between the Danube and the Italian Consulate. As all agree, Italy and Saudi Arabia have many common interests and the love of the delicious food is one of them. Danube Group is launching a splendid initiative to introduce the most famous Italian food to the Saudi customers. We are extremely proud to announce the introduction of the beef “bresaola” (kind of Italian dried meat) which is very special for the brand of the Danube and its approach to introduce new products to the market of Saudi Arabia, he said.
Then, Mr Davide Quillico, the guest who came from Italy to Jeddah exclusively to celebrate the “World Week of the Italian Cuisine” added highlighting the importance of the freshness of products in the Italian Cuisine. I’m coming from the north part of Italy, from Genoa the capital of Liguria, where we eat only fresh food, in our cuisine; we eat vegetables, cheese and herbs. It’s the original DNA of the ligurian cooking, which is the Mediterranean diet, as a typical lifestyle.