Almost 800 competing chefs will compete for the podium of best pizza chef in the world. From 5 to 7 April the doors of the Palaverdi, at the Parma exhibition center, will in fact open to hundreds of pizza makers and pizza makers from all over the world, to be exact from about 40 countries on all continents to conquer the gold medal of one of the most prestigious competitions reserved for pizza. Mostly they obviously come from Italy, but the delegations of France, Spain and the United States are also very aggressive. Surprisingly, the most represented Italian regions are Lombardy, Veneto and Lazio.
Il world championship of Parma pizza it is divided into three days during which the participants will have to try their hand at 1054 competitions, 966 of which are cooking. The jury of professionals is top secret. The only certain name is that of the three-starred Heinz beck which gives its name to its Trophy. The chef, in the role of president of the jury, will award among other things the first courses in a pizzeria: a unique and innovative competition, and the challenge will be the quality first courses, handcrafted and "expressed" created by the chefs of the pizzerias.
The top secret jury chaired by Heinz Beck
To present the competition will be again this year Johnny Parker well-known American television and radio host. "Despite the difficulties unfortunately due to the ongoing conflict, differentiated restrictions on travel abroad and still strict quarantine protocols in some countries (for example Japan) - he underlines Massimo Puggina, organizer of the event – we registered large numbers of 760 participants from Italy and the world”
The pizza chefs and pizza chefs will be called to compete in competitions baking (such as, for example, Classic pizza, Gluten-free pizza, Neapolitan pizza STG, Pizza in pan, Pizza in shovel, Triathlon, or three individual challenges among the previous categories). These are accompanied by competitions of ability, such as Freestyle (a spectacular acrobatic display to the rhythm of music), Pizza larger (the skill of pizza makers in enlarging 500 grams of dough will demonstrate how big a pizza can become), Pizzaiolo faster (Whoever spreads five discs of dough fastest wins).
New post-pandemic opportunities from digitization and food delivery
But not only lit ovens, there will also be moments of discussion to make a point on how the world of pizza has faced these two years of the pandemic. We will talk about the market, photographing the evolution from 2017 to today (pre and post Covid19) and the many opportunities that can be seized thanks to digitization and food delivery, wondering how to approach this new trend, how to implement it and make it become a strategic asset of catering activities.
To sit at the first discussion table of the Pizza World Forum will be Domenico Maria Jacobone, expert and trainer in the field of catering, digitization and food delivery. Still on the post Covid theme we will discuss with Antonio Puzzi, director of the magazine Pizza e pasta italiana, with the piazzaioli Patrick Ricci, Marzia Buzzanca, Petra Antolini, Roberta Esposito during the conference entitled “Are we bound or scattered? – Responsibility, Reciprocity and Regeneration in the post-pandemic pizzeria".
While the other moments of the Pizza World Forum are dedicated to deepening the techniques and new culinary trends of pizza, there will be an in-depth study on pizza in America with Tony Gemignani - thirteen times world champion and ambassador of pizza in the world -, Neapolitan pizza, sweet pizza with the starred chef Richard Zaki, gluten-free and mother yeast and the different types of flour.
There is also a paring entitled "Slices and Spirits – True Italian pizza meets the best Scottish gins in the name of modernity” by Scottish Development International in collaboration with Ghilardi Selezioni.
