Local food & wine experience @ Verona. A webinar talk for ENIT-USA
This is the webinar by our manager Simone Vesentini for the ENIT-USA #veronawherelovebegins 07/15/2020
Title: Verona localfood
Dear webinarists,
thank you so much for your time here. First off all let me thank Mr. Carlo Nerozzi ( the previus speecher ndr) for his introduction about the great importance of wine in our Verona food culture and traditions. We could say that here, in Verona the use of wine in the kitchen it’s an hot topic and not just because we all love to drink it!
In Verona's restaurants and taverns wine is not used just by food professionals or sommelliers to achive the best match with local dishes but as an essential ingredient of our most famous local recipes.
This use of wine was started by the ancient Romans in order to find a cheep and easy mean to preserve stored food safety and quality before the introduction of modern era cooling devices. Verona was encircled by wineyards also at that time so Veronese local people soon understood that immerging the food under an alcoolic mix (wine plus spices .i.e marinate process) will preserve it from both the ravishes of oxigen and time.
This was really important for the read meat, so loved by verona cousine: in an age without refrigerators only salting, drying or marinating can preserve the food.
One of the most loved dish in Verona, probably the best known around the world, is the “Risotto all'Amarone”: a traditional recipe that combines, two fantastic ingredients such as the Amarone della Valpolicella premium local red wine and the “Vialone Nano” white rice from the close Po Valley area.
You can see some cooking frames in the video linked at the end of this page.
Making of Risotto all' Amarone is easy but requires time (at least 15minutes) and the right ingredients (Amarone wine of course, Italian white rice, yellow butter, a bit of onion, meat or vegetable and italian or local cheese like MonteVeronese for the grand finale). Take your time to toast the rice BEFORE boiling it and to stir the rice with melting cheese at the end!) The result has to be creamy ( it has not to be a soup!!) super tasty and of a bright purple color.
Going back to the main goal of this speech is to underline that your food & wine experience in Verona will not be just tasting local products or local recipes but, more relevant, enjoying different places where try them. In Verona we'll have many beautifull - old fashioned taverns, that we call "osterie" in italian lenguage, some of them opened more than a century ago as our Caffè Monte Baldo.
Inside an osteria, normally a family managed business, you'll find a long marble or wood counter with a lot of small finger food available like meatballs, tramezzini or tartine ( slices of bread whit different kind of food on top), all ready for great aperitifs. It's a place where drink gorgeous local wines by the glass, while having good time talking with your friends and relatives.
In Verona we have also a lot of Michelin Guide rated famous gourmet restaurants, often placed outside of the city, in the astonishing landscapes of Garda Lake or Verona's mountains. Do not miss the opportunity to try there the best of the italian end verona cousine served by awarded chef .
Cooking in Verona, both in osterie or in premium restaurants is an art that “never sleps”, in continuous evolution, daily improved by talented young chefs that pays even more attention to the changing needs of new customers and the new food trends such as the use of certified organic local products, the growing attitude to be environmental friendly, and the dietary regimes of their guests.
To conclude, Verona, offers the unique opportunity for food & wine lovers to live countless culinary experiences based on high quality local products and great recipes inside its taverns like our Osteria Caffè Monte Baldo as well as in the most modern and celebrated restaurants in search of new proposals and food trends.
So, dear webinarist, please accept our invite to Verona! We are sure that you and your guests will enjoy an extra-ordinary and tasty food & wine experience, inside one of the most iconic and loved italian town.
Below two short videos of our Caffè Monte Baldo Tavern with some shots of the cooking of Risotto all'Amarone. We suggest to upgrade to "high" the videos quality on your settings
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UDlaTksKCf0&feature=youtu.be
Finally let me thanks Daniel Frank Verona Booking, Luca Layher Modesti of Show Time Studios , Alessandra Biti, Francesco Biti, Pier Nicola Fazzini, Nicola Ferrari, Stefania Berlasso Sergio Cucini of Best Western Hotel Firenze Verona, Carlo Nerozzi of Le Vigne di San Pietro, Stefania Zanuso of Hotel Villa Malaspina, Museo e Matteo Pasqualotto di Ways by Veronality!
Simone Vesentini,
Manager of the "Caffè Monte Baldo" group.
Verona - Italy 37121
caffemontebaldosrl@lamiapec.it
