Mar. 6 – Pizza “cu ‘a pummarola ‘ncoppa” – as the Naepolitan song has it – has always been Italy’s best export… Italy’s culinary art, a symbol recognized worldwide, rocks the US, where Americans consume on average 13 kilograms of pizza per year. With this in mind, the Italian Cultural Institute of Los Angeles is organizing a conference around the delicious food. Professor Mauro Daniel Rossi of the Art Institute of California – Hollywood, will analyze the historical origins of pizza as well as the different preparation techniques across time and space. On March 11, the Institute will host the conference alongside the Los Angeles delegation of the Accademia italiana della cucina. The event is scheduled within the “Around the Italian Table” series of conferences and workshops aiming at revealing the secrets of Italian cuisine and its social value. The project was promoted with Expo Milan 2015 in mind, which will focusi on “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life.” Mauro Daniel Rossi first worked for Italian restaurants abroad, before obtaining his master’s degree in Anthropology, Nutrition and Culture. As of 2010, he is the academic director of Culinary Arts at the Art Institute of California – Hollywood. In the US, pizza consumption is at an all time high, actually surpassing Italian consumption. Coldiretti underlines that the pizza business in Italy is worth €10 billion, with 250.000 operators and 50.000 dedicated venues, while in the US it’s worth $40 billion.
