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CULTURE

Top Italian restaurant loses title as ‘world’s best’

Massimo Bottura's restaurant Osteria Francescana in Modena, northern Italy, has slipped to second place in the prestigious World's Best 50 Restaurant rankings.

Top Italian restaurant loses title as 'world's best'
Top chef Massimo Bottura on the red carpet at the awards. Photo: AFP

The Italian eatery was usurped by Eleven Madison Park in New York, the first American restaurant to take the title since 2004.

But Modenese chef Bottura still has plenty to celebrate, taking second place in the awards and remaining the 'best in Europe' according to the 900 judges.

Before Osteria Francescana was crowned the world's best in 2016, the restaurant took the second place in 2016, after two years ranked third.

The jury this year labelled Bottura “a poet, storyteller and artist as much as a cook”, for “weaving narravtives” through the dishes on offer.

Bottura's restaurant offers a creative twist on Italian favourites, with dishes including 'Yellow is bello' and 'Oops I dropped the lemon tart'.

Highlights on the menu include Five Ages of Parmiggiano Reggiano, where the region's famed cheese is served in different forms and textures, as well as classics like tagliatelle with hand-chopped ragu and risotto cooked with veal-jus.

READ MORE: Meet the Italian chef behind the world's best restaurant

As well as running the celebrated restaurant, Bottura works on projects to eliminate food waste and help tackle social issues through food. Last year, he opened up a restaurant in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to feed the city's homeless community using leftover food from Olympics caterers.

Four other Italian eateries were recognized in Wednesday's awards.

Enrico Crippa's Piazza Duomo in Alba won 15th place, earning praise for its salads using “varying seasonal ingredients” and an unusual, entirely pink dining room, complete with frescoes inspired by the local landscape.

Le Calandre in Rubano – run by Max Alajuno, the youngest ever chef to receive three Michelin stars – came in at 29th. Judges said the Paduan eatery's standout dish was its saffron and liquorice risotto and that the meals on offer were “relatively simple and, above all else, delicious”.

And at 43rd place was Reale in Abruzzo, praised as a “truly original restaurant”. Housed in a former monastery, chef Niko Romito – who previously led a campaign to improve the quality of Italian prison food – focuses on “complexity” in his food.

Organized by the British magazine ‘Restaurant Magazine' in collaboration with San Pellegrino and Acqua Panna, the awards showcase the 50 best restaurants which are selected by over 900 international jurors.

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FOOD AND DRINK

Do Italians really eat pasta every day?

Pasta is the foundation of Italian cuisine and Italians have a reputation for eating it nearly every day. But is this reality or myth?

Do Italians really eat pasta every day?

Pasta is the cornerstone of Italian cuisine and an essential staple of Italians’ diet, hence the popularity of the adage Toglietemi tutto ma non la pasta! (‘Take everything away from me except pasta’).

But there is a widespread belief among foreign nationals that people in the bel paese eat it every single day of the week. 

Is this reality or myth?

According to a survey from research platform YouGov Italia, ‘only’ 17 percent of Italians eat pasta every day or at least six days a week. 

The majority of Italians (37 percent) consume pasta two to three times a week, while 30 percent say they eat it four to five times a week. 

Finally, 8 percent eat pasta just once a week.

While the survey seems to disprove the claim that Italians generally eat pasta every day (only a minority does), does that mean that they are not as big pasta eaters as we may have originally thought?

Not really. 

Italians are still the leading pasta consumers in the world as the average person in the country eats some 23.1 kilograms of it every year (that’s nearly two kilograms a month).

READ ALSO: Ask an Italian: How do you sauce pasta properly?

For context, people in neighbouring France and Germany only consume 8.3 and 7.9 kg per capita a year, whereas the average American eats about 9 kg every year.

Further, yearly per capita consumption in the UK stands at an average of just 3.5 kg, according to a report from pasta maker Barilla.

So, while they may not have it every day, Italians do eat quite a lot of pasta over the course of a year. 

But how do they never get tired of it? 

One of the main reasons behind Italians’ unbreakable bond with the high-carb food is variety. 

Italians are extremely creative when it comes to pasta and they rarely eat the same dish twice in a row as they like to experiment with a wide range of recipes and sauces.

READ ALSO: Ten golden rules for cooking pasta like an Italian

Further, there are over 350 types of pasta in Italy, which means that you could potentially eat a different pasta shape almost every day of the year.

Another reason why most Italians have pasta multiple times a week is that they tend to eat it in moderation, steering well clear of potential carb overloads. 

While they may have a large, high-calorie pasta dish (for instance, lasagne or pasta al ragù) on weekends or on special occasions, people in the country generally go for lighter recipes and sauces on normal days, with portions generally going from 80 to 120 grams per person.

Also, Italians very rarely eat pasta twice a day, with the majority of people having it for lunch and then opting for a non-carb-based dish in the evening.

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