Italy isn’t stopping. At all. After the victories at the European football and volleyball championships, and the best result ever in terms of medals won at the Olympics (with two unbelievable golds in the men’s 100 meters and 4×100 meters), Italy’s lucky year in international competitions records a further success: the national pastry team won the France Pastry World Cup.
The Pastry World Cup has been held since 1987 at Sirha, the Lyon hospitality exhibition. Italy, that this year was in its twelfth participation, had already won twice, in 1997 and 2015, while in 2019 came in third.
Andrea Restuccia, Massimo Pica and Lorenzo Puca, the pastry chefs who compose Italy’s national team, won over ten opposing teams. The three Italian chefs triumphed over the 10-hour competition by making five signature pieces: a chocolate dessert for sharing, an ice-cream cake, a restaurant dessert – a category introduced this year as a novelty and judged by chefs Dominique Crenn and Jordi Roca among the others -, a 165cm-high sugar sculpture, and a chocolate creation of the same height. The Italian team scored 7744 points, beating the Japanese, who came in second, and the French, who won the third place.
The Italian team, “coached” by Alessandro Dalmasso, president of the Club of the Coupe du Monde de la Pâtisserie Selezione Italia, had been chosen during last year’s Campionati Italiani di Pasticceria (Italian Pastry Championship). Lorenzo Puca won the competition in the Sugar category, Massimo Pica in the Chocolate category and Andrea Restuccia won the Pasticceria Seniores title.
Italy now aims to double up: an Italian team led by Chef Alessandro Bergamo, former sous-chef at TV chef Carlo Cracco’s Michelin-starred restaurant in Milan, will take part in the Bocuse d’Or, the cooking competition that takes place in Lyon. The championship, held every two years, is dedicated to Chef Paul Bocuse, a legendary figure of French cuisine and creator, along with other chefs, of nouvelle cuisine. Bergamo’s team will face off against 23 opponents in the competition for the title of world cuisine champions.
