RIMINI, Italy – SIGEP is not only the leading international expo for the artisan gelato, pastry and bakery world, at which to see these markets’ new trends or discover extraordinary materials and the very latest production techniques. Above all, it is a stage on which different cultures and food traditions meet and share projects, exchanges and collaboration of both a commercial and economic nature.
The key players at the 37th edition of the Rimini Fiera expo, that wrapped up yesterday, also include two great Indian chefs: Sabyasachi Gorai (in the first picture) and Avijit Ghosh.
Sabyasachi Gorai, better known to the general public as just “Chef Saby”, is a chef who has achieved great recognition: winner of the “National award 2011 for Best chef in India” he attained the same result the following year in New York, thanks to the “Varli Awards”, which US critics and journalists reserve for the best representative of Indian cuisine.
As well as directing the kitchens and hospitality of great restaurants in his country, he founded and directs professional training schools and courses, as well as creating and launching new hospitality and catering formats.
“I know Italy and its extraordinary products well,” says Chef Saby “Your cuisine features food such as pizza, bread and pasta. In my country, there are 600 million people under the age of 40 and they are ready to discover and appreciate Italian cuisine.
My participation in SIGEP serves precisely to meet and establish collaboration relationships with the Italian food world and at this expo I‘ve found great enthusiasm and a very high level of participation on behalf of the public and trade members. All this opens the doors to exchanges and shared projects.”
Avijit Ghosh, currently corporate pastry chef and standard manager of the “Leela Ventura Limited” hotel chain, also considers SIGEP is a place ensuring global networking with the pastry and gelato world and new ways to consider desserts:
“Thanks to the international competitions, meetings and workshops, we are able to discover and share experiences and ideas. It is possible to update on what is happening and improve one’s abilities. This is an experience I’ll take back to India with me and put at the disposal of the 25 pastry chefs who work in the ‘Leela’ hotels”.
Another emblematic case of internationality is that of “Juan Valdez Café”. It is a story of success. The chain began in Colombia in 2002, and now has over 300 points of sale in 20 countries worldwide.
The brand can be found in Central and South America and in the United State, and its coffee is also drunk in Korea and Malaysia. “Juan Valdez” is an enterprise that features the complete production chain.
It takes coffee from the land and the work of farmers in the plantations, through to the cup of coffee in the bars with its brand or those of the consumers who purchase its products in stores and supermarkets.
During a pause in his business meetings in Rimini, where he was attending SIGEP of the first time, Hernan Mendez (in the picture above), president of “Juan Valdez Café explains,
“At SIGEP, I have been able to see all the new things our sector offers worldwide. Visiting the halls, we have seen techniques and machinery we would like to adopt in Colombia too. We have extraordinary raw material and Italy is the home of coffee – if we manage to combine the two, the result would be really great.
It would be really important for us to open one of our venues in Italy too, since we only have business relations with Spain in Europe at present.”
