National Pride: Italy is world champion in pastry

We all already knew that 2021 was by far the Italian year. Italy has distinguished itself in practically all the competitions in which it has participated, and not only sports. It has won the European Football Championship. The European men’s and women’s Volleyball Championship. It also won the European Softball Championship. He won the Eurovision 2021, thanks to Maneskin. It won 40 medals (10 gold) at the Tokyo Olympics, setting a new personal record. And for the first time in history it reached the final at Wimbledon, thanks to Matteo Berrettini.
Now another incredible victory has come: La Coupe du Monde de la Pâtisserie, snatched in Lyon from the outgoing champions of Malaysia. Japan is in second place and France in third. The Italian national team had already participated 11 more times in this competition, managing on 2 occasions to bring home the title of champions.

The team that carried out the enterprise is composed of three talented young pastry chefs. The captain is the 32-year-old Lorenzo Puca, who along with Andrea Restuccia, 28 years old, had already participated in the final of 2019, winning the bronze. The new element is Massimo Pica, 36 years old and chocolate expert. Behind their preparation there is all the experience and professionalism of the official coach Alessandro Dalmasso.
But the determination and above all the constant commitment of the three champions played the most important role. For over a year and a half they have done nothing but focus on this final. They trained daily at an impressive pace, from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., dedicating themselves to this mission. And the results repay the work.
Even the great italian pastry chef Iginio Massari did not delay to express his personal compliments to the guys through a post.

This edition of the Championships introduced several novelties, which were already felt in the profound renewal of the International Committee that managed the Coupe du Monde. The teams faced the theme "All art is imitation of nature", through the preparation of 4 desserts based on chocolate, 4 ice cream entremets and 10 desserts for restaurant. All without the use of dyes. For the artistic tests were instead requested two pieces in sugar and chocolate and a sculpture made from a single block of dark chocolate.
In total 23 teams participated and Italy triumphed among the 11 finalists, working for 10 hours to realize very elaborate works of art. Special attention has been paid to the dessert for restaurant (one of the novelties). The category was carefully evaluated by a special jury, including the starred chef Giuseppe Amato, who expressed great satisfaction with the results of the Italian team.

Pierre Hermé, the new Committee Chairman, explained the aim of the new choices as "to promote the profession of pastry chef and the collaboration between the chef and the pastry chef. The jury paid particular attention to the combination of flavors and textures chosen, to the preparation: everything was served "à la minute", as a dishs served to the restaurant".
The Italian team has been able to interpret perfectly the sense of competition, demonstrating once again how much the young excellences of Italy can teach. And that’s not all yet! The last phase of the Bocuse d'Or will be held shortly, also in Lyon. Also in this case the Italian team ranked for the final. Expectations for our chefs are high. So fingers crossed!