Tourism | MGTO promotes Macau as City of Gastronomy in Italy

A cooking show presented by IFT chefs

A delegation led by the deputy director of the Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO), Cheng Wai Tong, attended the City of Gastronomy Festival in Parma earlier this month. There, they met with representatives of Slow Food International to gain a deeper understanding of the international slow food culture.

The City of Gastronomy Festival aims to open the eyes of UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) members to the gastronomic culture and traditions of Parma, while offering a platform for them to showcase the scope of their city’s culinary offerings, and exchange insights. The Festival was attended by representatives of eight UCCN member cities in the field of gastronomy: Gaziantep (Turkey), Bergen (Norway), Tsuruoka (Japan), Macao (China), Paraty (Brazil), Dénia (Spain), Belem (Brazil) and Alba (Italy).

The event was staged in the heart of Parma in Italy, where MGTO set up a stand for Macau at the expository UNESCO Area at Piazza Ghiaia and joined forces with the Institute for Tourism Studies (IFT) to showcase Macau’s destination glamour and distribute almond cookies to local citizens, marking its presence as a newly-designated UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy. Food and Beverage executive assistant manager of IFT, David Wong, and Food and Beverage Chef de Cuisine of IFT, Hans Lee Rasmussen, demonstrated the culinary range of Macanese cuisine at the cooking show held at Piazza Garibaldi.

The two-day event also featured pop-up restaurants, meetings, talk shows, and kids labs, drawing a multitude of local and visiting spectators to create a lively scene.

Making use of the occasion, MGTO visited the University of Gastronomic Sciences and had an official meeting with representatives of Slow Food International, an association based in Italy, to exchange perspectives and learn more about the international culture of slow food. The representatives include Secretary General of Slow Food International, Paolo Di Croce, East Asia Director of Slow Food International, Carlotta Baitone, and Coordinator of Slow Food Great China, Ling Kuangsung.

The Italian city of Parma was designated as a Creative City of Gastronomy by UNESCO in 2015. On this visit, MGTO made its debut with IFT in a cooking show at another City of Gastronomy, following Macau’s new designation.

Macau was designated as a member city of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network in the field of Gastronomy on October 31, 2017, having become the third city in China to join UCCN in the field of gastronomy. As pledged in the application, local authorities plan to implement a four-year action plan as a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy, with 2018 kicked off as the Macau Year of Gastronomy, a major highlight of the action plan.