New Zealanders certified Italian cooking

November 17 2010 News Release For Immediate Release

Famous Italian Culinary Academy brings unique opportunity to New Zealand

Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology (NMIT) is pleased to announce it will be offering New Zealanders certified Italian cooking training through an exciting new partnership with Italy’s top regional food academy - Academia Barilla.

It’s the first time the respected Academia Barilla has partnered with an institute outside of Ital, to provide professional authentic Italian cookery training. Executive Director of Academia Barilla, Gianluigi Zenti is coming to Nelson to officially launch the new Academia Barilla Centre for New Zealand on December 2nd,

NMIT’s Head of the School of Tourism, Hospitality and Wellbeing, Elizabeth Latham says being able to offer this exclusive training in Italian cooking helps us understand more of our own food culture.

“New Zealand has much to learn from the Italian experience and in particular how best to train people to promote regional uniqueness. Our relationship with Academia Barilla will also increase the opportunity to explore the strong Italian links here in Nelson and the tradition of artisan producers within our community as well as in Italy,’ she says.

The centre is to be run by Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology’s, as part of the NMIT School of tourism, Hospitality and Wellbeing. NMIT Chef James Perry has been trained and certified at the Academia Barilla in Parma Italy and will train second year professional cookery students in fundamental Italian regional gastronomy. Professional cookery students who complete the training can become certified in the Fundamentals of Italian Regional Gastronomy.

As well as the specialist teaching for professional chef training, the Academia Barilla Centre for New Zealand will also be offering week-long Italian cookery courses, open to New Zealanders with a passion for authentic Italian cooking.

Academia Barilla is part of the Barilla Group, which is one of Italy’s oldest and largest food companies. Academia Barilla was created to educate about the culinary and cultural history of regional Italy.

This exclusive relationship has taken over a year to cultivate and is the result of dedication by Elizabeth Latham.

“It is a huge honour that NMIT has been selected to be a centre of excellence for Academia Barilla. Nelson is an ideal place to set up this unique training because of its strong Italian community and unique access to its own Mediterranean food resources such as olives, tomatoes, and fresh seafood.”

Gianluigi will be touring food and wine producers in the Nelson region next Wednesday and will be available for interviews on Dec 2nd.Please phone Elizabeth Latham to arrange.

ENDS

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