Author: Jeremy Parzen

As U.S. issues Italy travel advisory, IACC postpones food and wine festivals planned for Houston, New Orleans, and Los Angeles in March.

The Italy-America Chamber of Commerce South Central has officially postponed its food and wine festivals and trade fairs previously scheduled for March in Houston (March 29-30) and New Orleans (March 31). The Italy-America Chamber of Commerce West (Los Angeles) has also postponed the festivals’ sister event in Los Angeles previously scheduled for April 2.

The IACC has decided to reschedule the gatherings in the wake of news reports of U.S. carrier flight cancellations to and from northern Italy and the U.S. government’s newly announced screening policy for travelers arriving in the country from Italy.

“Given the evolving situation,” says IACC Houston director Alessia Paolicchi, “we felt it wise to reschedule the Texas and Louisiana events, and our counterparts in Los Angeles agreed. We’re currently working with all of our partners, including the Los Angeles office and the Southern Food and Beverage museum in New Orleans, on setting up new dates for all three events, possibly in June.”

“Although we are confident that the spread of the novel coronavirus will soon be contained in Italy and in the U.S.,” she adds, “we feel that it’s in everyone’s best interest to postpone these events, especially given how many working parts are in play.”

The cancellation of the Prowein wine trade fair, previously scheduled for March 15-17 in Düsseldorf, Germany, was another factor in the decision-making process, note the event organizers.

New dates will be announced as soon as possible, and the organizers are planning to coordinate the scheduling so as not to conflict with other rescheduled food and wine events in the U.S. and Europe.

For further inquiries, please contact IACC media consultant Jeremy Parzen ([email protected] or 917-405-3426).

Tom Dobson is the Italian and French wine buyer for Spec’s Wine, Spirits & Finer Foods, which counts more than 160 locations across the state of Texas. Tom will be speaking on Sunday evening at the exhibitors seminar.

Originally from Tyler, Texas, Tom Dobson has been with Spec’s Family Partners for over 10 years, starting with the company just a few months after graduating from Texas A&M University. After a few months of working there, he truly started to discover the world of wine and has worked his way up to the buying position for Italy and France. He is a Certified Sommelier through the Court of Master Sommeliers and holds his WSET 3 certification. He’s currently working on his WSET Diploma.

We are thrilled to announce that this year’s Taste of Italy festival will host the third annual “Texas BBQ and Italian Wine” seminar moderated by Houston Chronicle food columnist J.C. Reid, the world’s leading authority on Texas BBQ and foodways.

Click here for the seminar schedule and registration.

This event will sell out quickly: Act now to ensure availability.

About J.C. Reid:

A native of Beaumont, J.C. Reid graduated from the University of Southern California after studying architecture and spent his early career as an architect in New York City. He returned to Texas in 1995, retiring from architecture but creating his own Internet business in Houston. As his business became self-sustaining, he began traveling the world to pursue his passion: food and travel writing.

He began writing about food and travel for the Houston Chronicle in 2010 and became a weekly columnist in 2013. He has written for the New York Times, Texas Monthly magazine and the Houston Press among other publications. He makes yearly trips to Italy and has written extensively about the food and wine there.

Image via the J.C. Reid fan Facebook.

What is terroir?

From the late Latin terratorium meaning territory (and ultimately from the Latin terra meaning earth), terroir can be defined as the unique confluence of soil, exposure, and climatic conditions that come together to create distinctive aromas and flavors in foods or wines.

Some food experts and historians would add one more element to that mix: Humankind. Human intervention, they argue, is a key element in creating foods and wines that couldn’t be produced anywhere else on earth.

Among Italy’s myriad expressions of terroir — think Nebbiolo wine grapes grown in Piedmont’s Langhe Hills with their classic rose petal notes or richly flavored red onions from Tropea in Calabria — few stand out the way that Pecorino Toscano does.

Pecorino, central and southern Italy’s ubiquitous sheep’s milk cheese, is produced throughout regions like Tuscany, Abruzzo, Lazio, Puglia, and Campania, among other regions.

But the cheeses form each region, although produced in nearly the exact same way using the exact same processes, taste very different from one another. That’s because each region has different soil types, different exposures (i.e., the layout of the land and the altitude), and different weather patterns (including temperature and humidity, for example). And as we noted above, some would also point out that they have different people: Different cultures and histories that have shaped their gastronomic traditions for millennia (literally).

One of the most unique expressions of pecorino can be found in Tuscany, where the cheeses have a highly distinct delicate character and almost “sweet” flavor.

No matter where you are in the world, you can raise sheep and make sheep’s milk cheese exactly as the Tuscans do. But it won’t taste the same. That’s because of the unique confluence of conditions found exclusively in the Tuscan countryside.

Over the next few weeks, the IACC Texas blog is going to be taking a look at the grand tradition of Pecorino Toscano production and why the cheeses are so distinctive.

Along the way, we are sure to discover that Pecorino Toscano is one of the world’s most famous and coveted cheeses for a very simply reason: Tuscany’s unique terroir and the Tuscan people’s devotion to and passion for this wonderful foodstuff.

Stay tuned!

We are pleased to share dates for next year’s Taste of Italy festivals, including a new stop on the tour — New Orleans!

HOUSTON: March 29-30
NEW ORLEANS (NEW!!!): March 31
LOS ANGELES (Savor Italy): April 2

Taste of Italy and its sister festival in Los Angeles, Savor Italy, are the largest trade and consumer festivals in the U.S. devoted exclusively to Italian food and wine.

Last year, more than 500 trade members and consumers attending Taste of Italy in Houston, which also featured the first-ever “Best Sommelier in Houston” competition and prize (above).

Some of Italy’s top producers are expected at next year’s gathering which is already expected to be our biggest festival to date.

If you’re not already signed up for the IACC Texas email newsletter, please send us an email here to subscribe and receive updates (including early registration and special offers).

Over the weekend, IACC Texas president Brando Ballerini a director Alessia Paolicchi attended the 28th annual convention of the Italian government’s international chambers of commerce held in Treviso, Venice, and Padua, Italy.

They couldn’t have been more proud to represent the Texas chapter of the organization: This year, IACC Texas, based in Houston, was ranked the number one chamber in the U.S. and the number five chamber in the world among 78 offices total worldwide (only 74 were ranked).

The rankings are based on the quality and variety of services offered. And as Director Paolicchi notes, the IACC Texas offering of programs and campaigns for its members — including the field of space, oil and gas, medicine, and food and wine — is where the office stands out among the crowded field of chambers across the globe.

The figures are even more impressive when you consider that Houston doesn’t abound in Italian businesses as do cities like New York, Chicago, Dubai, or Buenos Aires. Indeed, another primary factor that the organization takes into consideration when ranking the international chambers is the number of members each chapter has.

The mission of the international chambers of commerce, said Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte in an address to the convention, “isn’t just to make our presence grow through the world but also to share an unconventional image of an Italy that produces, innovates, and is a leader in many different sectors beyond industry, including the service sector, tourism, culture, food production, and wine and gastronomy.”

The theme for this year’s gathering was “partnerships in business and global networks, the new frontier for opportunity in the internationalization of businesses and territories.”

The Italian Association of Chambers of Commerce Abroad (Assocamerestero) has offices in 55 countries throughout the world.

The Veneto region was chosen as the site for this year’s convention because roughly 50 percent of its production is shipped abroad.