Judges at the TIRAMISU WORLD CUP 2023: Alberto Grandi and James Hoffmann!

Source: press office Tiramisù World Cup 2023

Here are the first names of the jury that will decide the World’s Best Tiramisu 2023. Among the judges of the Final on Sunday 8 October (from 3.00 pm) in Piazza dei Signori in Treviso are Alberto Grandi and James Hoffmann. President of the Jury, as in the past edition, journalist Laura Forti from La Cucina Italiana, the historic gastronomy magazine founded in 1929, already a media partner of the event.

Less than a month to go before the start of the Tiramisù World Cup 2023, the “greediest challenge of the year” taking place in Piazza dei Signori, in the heart of Treviso. Places for competitors are already sold out, while it is still possible to try to win your role in the jury of the Selections on Friday 6 and Saturday 7 October (the online test will close on Sunday 24 September).

A jury of industry experts, chaired as last year by the media partner La Cucina Italiana, will decide which Tiramisu will be the winner of the 2023 edition will be . Back from the United Nations SDG Summit 2023 at the Glass Palace in NYC, Director Maddalena Fossati Dondero once again emphasises the value of Italian cuisine in the world, here represented by Tiramisù as the best-loved Italian spoon dessert abroad: ‘After more than three years of work, in 2023 we have succeeded in bringing Italian cuisine to the Unesco candidacy as intangible heritage of humanity. Because cuisine belongs to all of us, just like tiramisu, which represents us all over the world. Telling this popular and increasingly international competition is part of the journey’.

The president of the jury is the expert editor Laura Forti, who is ready to leave from the Milan kitchens of the editorial office for the Final in Treviso, where she will award the LCI Special Prize to one of the creative tiramisu, as well as a free annual subscription to the magazine: “I can’t wait to find out what new frontiers of taste the competitors will explore in the creative tiramisu category. And of course, I never cease to be amazed at how the same five ingredients can give rise to tiramisu that are so different from each other, in the original category: for La Cucina Italiana it is important to bear witness to (and reward) the value of original recipes, on the one hand, but also of those that, by adapting tradition to their own time, carry it forward with quality and imagination’.

The judges include Alberto Grandi, lecturer in Food History at the University of Parma, author of books on the ancient origins of Italian recipes and co-author with Daniele Soffiati of a successful podcast (over 2 million downloads) now in its third season. In the “Tiramisù Extra”, programme of events, Alberto Grandi will present his latest book “Storia delle nostre paure alimentari” (Aboca, 2023) on Saturday 7 October, at 5.00 p.m. at Palazzo della Luce in Treviso.

Tiramisù is the paradigm of Italian cuisine: simple, modern and tasty. So I expect competitors to be able to come up with increasingly simple, increasingly modern and increasingly tasty versions. The only true tradition in the kitchen is to be able to change constantly.

In the large orangery that will be set up in Piazza dei Signori, James Hoffmann, English entrepreneur, publisher and youtuber (almost 2 million followers) in the world of coffee since 2003, will also be a judge. Winner of the World Barista Championship in 2007, the following year he co-founded Square Mile Coffee Roasters, an award-winning coffee company based in East London. In addition, the author has published two books with Octopus Hachette: the 2014 book ‘The World Atlas of Coffee’ has been translated into twelve languages; ‘How To Make The Best Coffee At Home’ (2022) was a Sunday Times top ten bestseller. In the past few months, Hoffmann and his staff had already met the Tiramisù World Cup during their visit to taste the best Tiramisù in Treviso: an experience that was recounted in this video.

I am delighted to be participating in the TWC and am incredibly excited to taste some of the world’s best tiramisu and discover how good they can be. As a coffee lover, Tiramisu is obviously one of my favourite desserts and I am sure I will learn so much along the way.

Among the other judges already shortlisted for the final: Manuel Gobbo (chef at “Le Beccherie” restaurant), Giuseppe D’Avino (Strega managing director), Dania Sartorato (president of Fipe and Confcommercio Unione provinciale Treviso).

JAMES HOFFMANN: 

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ALBERTO GRANDI:

Libro: Denominazione di Origine Inventata

Podcast (Spreaker): Parla Mentre Mangi