US tv chef presented with Italian food award

Premio Artusi Award given to Mary Ann Esposito

Celebrity chef Mary Ann Esposito has received the prestigious Premio Artusi Award, presented yearly to the individual who best exemplifies the art of preserving the traditions of regional cooking.

Esposito accepted the award at Casa Artusi, the foundation created in Forlimpopoli, Romagna with a legacy from Pellegrino Artusi, as a centre of excellence and learning for regional Italian cookery and local sourcing of food.

The foundation operates as a cookery school, library, conference centre, has two restaurants and manages a yearly food festival – the Festartusiana amongst other events, helping to create the Forlimpopoli area as one of Italy’s great food and wine destinations..

Forlimpopoli was home to the Italian cookery writer for whom the award is named. Artusi wrote the definitive work, "The Science of Cooking and the Art of Eating well", which became the benchmark cookbook for all Italians. Written just before Italian unification, the book was a significant force in coalescing Italian traditions and the Italian language.

It is an encyclopedia of regional Italian home cooking and has a global reach.

Esposito teaching a group of Ciao viewers at Casa Artusi and creating another US TV special

 "I am excited and honored to receive the Premio Artusi award," said Esposito. "I am extremely proud of my Italian heritage, and I’m thankful I’ve been able to make it my life’s work to share Italian recipes and traditions that were passed down from my parents and grandparents. I strive to preserve the authenticity of Italian regional cooking, and I am humbled by this prestigious recognition."

Esposito was selected to receive the award for her "extraordinary work in spreading the story of Italian cuisine in the United States through her television series, numerous books and articles aimed at preserving the best of Italian cooking," according to Casa Artusi.

In the past the Artusi award has been given to: Wendell Berry (2008), Serge Latouche (2009), Don Luigi Ciotti (2010), Oscar Farinetti (2011), Andrea Segrè (2012), Gino Angelini (2007 ), Moshe Bassoon (2006), Vandana Shiva (2003), Muhammad Yunus (2001), Alice Waters (2000), Gualtiero Marchesi (1998), and Ermanno Olmi (1997).

Mary Ann Esposito is one of America’s most loved television chefs. Her series, Ciao Italia with Mary Ann Esposito is the longest-running cooking show in America, now in its milestone twenty-fifth season.

Through Ciao Italia and appearances on other television programs like The Today Show, Regis and Kelly, QVC, the Food Network, Discovery Channel, and FOX, Mary Ann has been able to share the cooking lessons she learned as a child with audiences around the world. She also founded the Mary Ann Esposito Foundation, with the mission to preserve authentic Italian and Italian-American experience by providing educational information for students who want to become the next generation of great Italian chefs.

More information: http://www.casartusi.it http://www.ciaoitalia.com.

More information about Romagna at http://www.BestofRomagna.com

Valere Tjolle

NEW SUSTAINABLE/REAL TOURISM INFORMATION & OFFERS HERE