France won the Junior Pastry World Cup, the world’s only team event aimed at young Under-23 talents, held at Sigep (ongoing at Rimini Expo Centre until tomorrow) for the seventh edition with 11 teams competing. The winning team consisted of two young pastry chefs and a team manager, namely Pierre-Henri Roullard, Alistair Smith and Julien Maheux. Second place went to Chinese Taipei, with the trio Kuo Yi Lee, Che Wei Lee and Shang Cheng Wang; while Hong Kong, with Yiu Man Roger Fok, Lok Yin Lee and Ho Man Yiu, came in third. This year’s theme, chosen by contest chairman Roberto Rinaldini, was ‘Myths and Legends’: describing a myth or legend of the team’s home country to enhance its culture and history through the pastry chefs’ creations. And, since 22 nations were competing, the artworks came from all over the world: Australia, Chile, the Philippines, France, Peru, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, India, Malta, South Korea and Uzbekistan. The different trials ranged from artistic chocolate and sugar presentation, to modern chocolate cake, a typical street food dessert from their home country, and a vegan glass sorbet. They were judged by an international jury consisting of the team managers of the 11 teams with Maestro Iginio Massari as president of honour and Maestro Eugenio Morrone as president of the jury.

ASSOTURISMO AND AIG: IN CITIES OF ART, ONE IN TWO GELATO PARLOUR CUSTOMERS IS A TOURIST

More than 52% of gelato parlour customers in Italian art cities are tourists. And more than 9 million tourists have participated in a guided tour of an Italian artisan gelato parlour in the past three years. These are some of the figures presented by Assoturismo Confesercenti and the Italian Gelato Makers’ Association at Sigep (ongoing at Rimini Expo Centre until tomorrow), during the Gelato and Tourism Conference: a combination for the development of Made in Italy in the Tiglio Room (Hall A6). The numbers of the sector, which is worth over 4 billion euros and employs more than 100,000 people, show the appeal that Italian gelato has for tourists, especially those from abroad, who, in 2023, increased their spending on artisan gelato in Italy by 13%. Italian artisan gelato is thus confirmed as a global excellence and a strategic segment of our food industry. A product that, thanks to the creativity of our gelato makers and the production, distribution and logistics companies in the sector, for the first time in Europe, surpassed the 10-billion-euro mark (+11% more than in 2022), with a sharp increase in turnover compared to the 9.83 billion in 2022.

GELATO ON CANVAS: THE EXHIBITION-COMPETITION

In Rimini, the first edition of the Gelato on Canvas traditional painting and digital art exhibition-competition conceived by Nicole Montelli, painter, chromo-therapist and performer, and Davide Scantamburlo, consultant and gelato maker trainer, was held in collaboration with IEG. Painting and gelato are two great expressions of Italian art, the product of creativity and passion. The two organizers are convinced that the artistic vision of artisan gelato can create stimuli, growth and collaboration between the two sectors. On display were the creations of artists who were given free reign regarding the choice of painting technique, style and representation of the proposed work.

FOCUS ON SIGEP 2024
Dates: 20-24 January 2024; Organizer: Italian Exhibition Group SpA; In collaboration with: the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and ITA – Italian Trade Agency; Under the patronage of: the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry, The Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy, Emilia-Romagna Region, Province of Rimini, Romagna Chamber of Commerce, Rimini Council; edition: 45^th; frequency: annual; event: international trade show; entry: trade only; Info : www.sigep.it

PRESS CONTACT SIGEP ITALIAN EXHIBITION GROUP
head of media relation & corporate communication: Elisabetta Vitali; press office manager: Marco Forcellini; press office specialist: Mirko Malgieri international press office coordinator: Silvia Giorgi; media@iegexpo.it

MEDIA AGENCY SIGEP: Mind The Pop
Martina Vacca: martina@mindthepop.it, mob. +39 339 748 4994; Fabrizio Raimondi: fabrizio@mindthepop.it, mob. +39 335 389 848; Benedetto Colli: benedetto@mindthepop.it , mob. 380 371 2272; Stefano Chiossi: stefano@mindthepop.it, mob. + 39 388 739 4358.

Source: Sigep