RESTAURANT DESTINATION: 2016 International Culinary Olympics

RESTAURANT DESTINATION: 2016 International Culinary Olympics
by Jorge R. Jefferds August 16, 2016

Would you like to get involved in the jury of a food competition? The Italian Culinary Institute together with the ICI Culinary Team are sponsoring and presenting the 2016 International Culinary Olympics in Erfurt, Germany.
Between October 21 and October 26, forty local teams, twenty military teams, scores of regional and private teams and over two thousand individuals will compete in an attempt to show the rest of the world whose cuisine is the best. Prizes go to those teams and individuals, who can demonstrate that the technique, taste, and presentation employed during preparation are superior than their colleagues.

Swedish team reacting as they won the gold medal in the International Exhibition of Culinary Art IKA in Erfurt, Germany, on October 10, 2012

The scope of international culinary competitions is the assessments of chefs' and pastry chefs' performances. Attendees are offered a practical demonstration of the latest developments in culinary art, while the new generation of cooks will receive encouragements for further efforts. Particular importance is placed on pristine neatness, organization, and variety of dishes preparation.
The IKA Culinary Olympics has been performed since 1896, and is one of the five major international culinary competitions sanctioned by WACS. Over fifty thousand visitors, mostly chefs and restaurateurs, are expected to attend the events that are held amidst several important tradeshows.

Silver medal awarded in 2012

The program (EURO 4,995 per person) is all-inclusive from the arrival time to the hotel until departure.
In detail, you will get:

• 5 nights accommodation in a three star hotel in Thüringen, Germany.
• Full use of hotel facilities.
• Transfer from the hotel to the convention center and return daily,
• Entrance tickets to the competitions and trade fair at INOGA Convention Centre.
• Transfer to and from the Welcome Dinner.
• Complete board (all meals included): Welcome Dinner, 5 breakfasts at the hotel, 4 haute cuisine lunches at the Restaurant of Nations, 3 haute cuisine dinners at the Restaurant of Nations, Beer Fest, and Gala Dinner.
• Fully guided and accompanied by English speaking master chefs.
• Certificate of Completion ICI: 50 hours full immersion.
• Certificate of Collaboration, ICI Culinary Team

Another silver medal awarded culinary work

Restaurant of Nations
The participating culinary teams will prepare specialties of their nations. The entire preparation of each team can be viewed as they work flawlessly in glass kitchens. In all, over 3500 haute meals are prepared by countries spanning six continents. Each national culinary team has to prepare 110 full menus. Ten judges will sit with one hundred visitors and will judge accordingly. It is the only place where visitors actually dine on the same food with the judges offering participants a one in a lifetime chance to experience the absolute best in haute dining from forty different countries!


If you want a complete information about the daily schedule, visit the Italian Culinary Institute here.

CITY DESTINATION: Pescara Beach and Historical Fort (Italy)

CITY DESTINATION: Pescara Beach and Historical Fort (Italy)

By Jorge Jefferds August 10, 2016

There is a place in Italy, where in only thirty minutes you can travel between extensive beaches and high snow slopes. The site is a small city called Pescara, lies on the coast of the Adriatic Sea, and proudly enjoys a Mediterranean climate. Short hot summers with temperatures around 90 degrees are exquisite on the beach that bathes this beautiful settlement. Founded in the 11th century, Pescara grew up from being a simple fishing village enriched with monuments and churches to become a port with more than 400,000 inhabitants.
Doing things in Pescara depends on what you are looking for. If you are into summer getaways and want to enjoy white sands, beach, and sun, Pescara is a good place but not the perfect one. The season tends to be short, usually hot and dry in July and rainy in August. However, you might be interested in combining those rain showers with visits to the historical district.

The Beachfront

History is something you will find on the south shore, where once stood the Piazzaforte (fortified town), a military bulwark of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. There is the Bagno Borbonico (the old prison of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, built starting in 1510 by order of Charles V, which incorporated inside the remains of the Norman and Byzantine city walls). Today it houses the Museum of the Abruzzi people: the institution traces, towards 13 halls dedicated to the aspects of life, traditions and economy, 4,000 years of history of the Abruzzo people.
In the historic city center are the birthplace houses of Gabriele D'Annunzio and Ennio Flaiano, and the San Cetteo Cathedral, build between 1933 and 1938.
On the north shore of the river there's Piazza Italia (Italy Square), overlooked by the City Hall and the Government Building (which houses the headquarters of the Province of Pescara), both built during the Fascist era according to the fascist rationalist style and designed by the architect Vincenzo Pilotti. Mr. Pilotti designed the majority of the public buildings of the city, including the seat of the local Chamber of Commerce, of the Liceo Classico "G. D'Annunzio" high school, and the old seat of the court (which now houses a museum).

San Cetteo Cathedral

In the very south part of the city, between the D'Avalos Park and the beach, there is an elegant Art Nouveau villas district designed in 1912 by Antonino Liberi (an engineer brother-in-law of D'Annunzio). There is also the Aurum, first headquarters of a social club (called the Kursaal), then liquor factory, and today public multipurpose space.
Ponte del Mare, the largest pedestrian and cycle bridge in Italy, was built in 2007 to culminate as the center of such eternal spots. On the northern waterfront, close to the Salotto Square, the main square of the city, there is the Nave (the ship), a sculpture by Pietro Cascella.

Ponte del Mare Bridge

A couple of excellent things about summer in Pescara are two international events, which generally occur between June and July. There is a jazz international festival that takes place since 1969, and the Flaiano Prizes, one of Italy’s most famous international film festivals.