BY MUNYARADZI MADZOKERE
Four chefs including two trainees from the SAHTC – The Hospitality School are set to travel to Italy for a 10-day training course on Cucina Italiana (Italian cooking), which will coincide with the Italian Food Week, at the Istituto SuperioreApicio-Colonna Gatti School in the city of Anzio next month.
The initiative is sponsored by the Italian Embassy in Harare, which is covering the travel and accommodation expenses as well as the daily allowances for the beneficiaries.
The Hospitality School arranged cook off competitions to select the two trainees to benefit from the gesture by the Italian embassy and the final was held at the institution’s campus in Harare on Thursday.
Clare Tawonezvi emerged victorious while Tashana Smith was the runner-up to book the final ticket for the trip to Anzio.
Two other chefs from Victoria Falls were selected to travel to Italy.
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The cook-off final at The Hospitality School was graced by deputy head of missions at the Italian Embassy Simonetta Bartelomei.
“This is the first time that the Italian Embassy is sending some students to the school in Italy but it’s not students only, there are two chefs from Victoria Falls who will be traveling to Italy,” Bartelomei said.
“This is part of an annual festival held in November, which seeks to celebrate Italian food and cooking. All the Italian embassies and consulates around the world who are able, take part in this festival which is a promotion of Italian food. I am confident that the chefs we are sending will benefit immensely from this exchange,” she said.
The Italian embassy has been working with The Hospitality School for many years especially during the Italian food week celebrations.
“Over the years, the embassy of Italy in Zimbabwe has celebrated the Italian food week with us, a relationship which has seen Italian chefs visit the school for cookouts while we had a virtual exchange programme last year with an Italian Culinary School,” SAHTC – The Hospitality School director Michale Farrell said.
“This year alone we have sent a number of trainees abroad for internships at prestigious properties across the globe. Over the years we have established strong liaisons with some of the top Tourism and Hospitality players both locally and abroad.”
Tawonezvi shrugged off stiff competition from four other contestants namely Smith, Rukudzo Mutasa, Ruvimbo Dengende and Lorraine Tapfumaneyi to win the cook-off.
“I am excited to get this opportunity and I can’t wait to share my experiences with others when I come back. Time was not on my side when I was cooking and I had doubts that I could win but once I finished I was confident. And here I am,” Tawonezvi said.
In April this year the Italian embassy sent athletes and coaches from Zimbabwe for a training camp in Italy.