Liliana Billitteri, Calogero Paternostro and Santo Petrocciani from Palermo, Alessandro Cretella from Rome, Dino Perrone from Trani (Barletta) and Antonio Bellanca from Grotte (Ag) are the six chefs selected by the Conad Italian Championship who will compete in San Vito Lo Capo during the next edition of the Cous Cous Fest, scheduled from 17 to 26 September.
“It will be a special edition – explains the mayor of San Vito Lo Capo Giuseppe Peraino – because, in addition to being the edition of the restart, we will return to live the event in the location where it was born, the Garden of the Sanctuary of San Vito martire, a place of great beauty and suggestion where there will be tastings, cous cous championships and cooking shows. We will return live with great emotion to celebrate the dish of peace and to welcome chefs from all over the world in the sign of welcome and cultural integration”.
The technical jury, chaired by Paolo Vizzari and composed of Sonia Peronaci and Annalisa Cavaleri, selected five chefs, while Antonio Bellanca was the most voted chef by web surfers with 2382 votes
“The collaboration with the Cous Cous Fest has been going on for many years now – Giuseppe Zuliani, Customer Marketing and Communication Director for the national Conad – and I think it depends mainly on two factors: the enogastronomic value that the cous cous dish has, capable of expressing the cuisine of the territory, and the value it has in terms of tradition for this community. For us, these two components are fundamental in the construction of the products and services we offer our customers. We believe that this type of promotion allows us to be very different from our competitors, but also unique in the choice made by our customers”.
For the first time in the event’s history, San Vito Lo Capo’s restaurants and hotels will be involved in new initiatives: the Ristofest, the Cous scuola (Cous School) and the Bed & Fest.
A selection of the best restaurants in San Vito, Macari and Castelluzzo will offer special menus for lunch and dinner based on the real protagonist of the event, cous cous, proposed in many recipes, from the most traditional to the most original. The menus can already be purchased online and will give the opportunity to attend a Cous School, a lesson on how to cook cous cous.
There will also be promotions for those who stay in San Vito Lo Capo during the festival with the Bed & Fest: for a booking of at least three nights, in one of the facilities participating in the circuit, a free lunch or dinner with couscous.
“We want to network – says Nino Ciulla, Councillor for Tourism of the Municipality of San Vito Lo Capo – and involve our catering, tourism and accommodation sector and for the first time we are succeeding”.