Covering The Launch of Italy’s Club EATalian Program, This American Feels At First Out of Place, Then Like Family
By Kevin Wilkerson, PubClub.com Food Blogger
It’s always nice to be invited to press events. Especially ones that involve food. And especially when that press event that involves food is put on by Italians.
So when PubClub.com received an invitation from the Italian Trade Commission to a presentation of a healthy eating program being launched in the U.S., I jumped at the chance.
Frankly, I was a bit unsure of why PubClub – which focuses on writeups on bars and nightlife – was being invited to a healthy eating press event (perhaps it was because I had just published an article on how I lost 15 pounds in two months while also drinking beer), especially by the Italian government. But I’m always looking for good story opportunities.
The event was held at the Intercontinental Hotel in Century City, which is next to Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. Yes, a nice location.
When I arrived, there was a small wait at the check-in and everyone was speaking Italian: The lady doing the checking in, the people getting checked in, those already in the room who had been checked in ahead of me. If nothing else, it sure set the tone for the event.
When it came my turn to be checked in, I was greeted in perfect English. This happens all the time in Europe; people speak all different languages until they get to me and don’t even hesitate to talk in English, as if they already know I’m an American. What makes them so certain, I always wonder???
Anyway, I was given a smile and a badge and walked into what amounted to a conference room with a large boardroom-type table. I was, quite obviously, the only American in the place (blonde hair, khaki pants) with the exception of the moderator.
The event began and the presenters went through what turned out to be a presentation, complete with a PowerPoint show. It was all very interesting yet at the same time a bit confusing. There were a lot of representatives from not only the Trade Commission but also the Italian Ministry of Economic Development, the Italy American Chamber of Commerce, Italian food and wine publisher Gambero Rosso and chefs from Italian restaurants in L.A.
But there were no other journalists in the room, at least as far as I could determine. Certainly none from any travel events I have attended in L.A., or the local scribes or TV stations. I did note a couple of Italians across the table from me taking notes, and I assumed them to be with Italian press outlets.
Frankly, I was trying to figure out exactly how I got here and why I was invited. I clearly stuck out among the 25 or so people in the room. And I’m sure I did even more so when I pulled out the iPhone to use the “notes” function to jot down notes. It no doubt appeared as if I was texting the whole time.
The presentation itself was a bit confusing, but mostly because I was having a hard time understanding the speakers. They spoke with very thick Italian accents and I had to concentrate very hard to pick up what they were saying, and even then I could not catch everything.
I did quickly learn that the Italian Trade Commission’s mission is to promote Italian-made products in the States and it was launching a program to teach Americans how to eat more healthy diets. Using products from Italy, of course.
I’m all for Americans improving their diets – the obesity factor in this country is staggering, if not sad – and you can read all about the Italian Trade Commission here.
After the presentation – which included a passionate discussion in heavy Italian accents about great it would be to get Americans to eat more like the Italians – the organizers said it was now time to eat. That I understood with no problem!
I was expecting to be served by a chef who would explain the health benefits of each dish and how they were prepared – when Tourism Switzerland brought in a chef to highlight its Geneva region for this press event that’s exactly what they did and it was both educational and wonderful – but instead we were told to get up and help ourselves to a buffet.
And the buffet contained very little of what I would consider authentic Italian food. It had pastries, fruit, a bit of cheese and cold cuts, salmon and some type of egg custard, but no pasta. In fact, it looked quite American.
Well, I wanted a photo of it all on a plate because they presented it as brunch and if this is the brunch they were pushing, then far be it from me to analyze it. So I filled up my plate and started to return to my seat.
Except I noticed that hardly anyone was sitting. They had all grabbed small plates of a pastry, perhaps some fruit, and were mingling and standing.
I looked down at my overflowing plate and really felt out of place. I could just hear people thinking “look at that gluttonous American helping himself to whatever is put in front him, and what’s he doing here anyway” as I walked past.
I sat down, took a few photos and and quickly began to consume the bigger items, so when others finally began to sit back down, my plate could look as bare as did theirs.
But most people continued to stand, and I decided it was time to at least figure out what had just transpired so I could write about it. I introduced myself to Letizia Miccoli, Executive Director of LA-based Italy-America Chamber of Commerce West.
Micolli is overseeing a very interesting and no doubt incredibly time-consuming part of Club EATtalian that involves certificating the authenticity of Italian restaurants in the United States. This alone is fascinating and requires much deeper investigation in the future.
Micolli, who previously spoke with an accent that was thicker than a Chicago pizza, cheerily greeted me and broke out into perfectly understandable English. She helped me confirm the facts of the program and then I was surrounded by a couple of other people from the event.
Suddenly, I not only felt like I belonged, I felt as if I was being invited into the family! Subsequent follow-up e-mails strengthened this feeling, and everyone loved the story. (They asked I not use the photo of the plate of food because it did not represent the type of Italian cooking they were promoting and quite frankly, I could not agree more.)
I’m still not sure why I was invited to the event, but no matter. I was, I covered it, wrote a good story and who knows, may even learn a little Italian along the way.
Leave a Reply