New York fetes Italian cuisine with IACC

(ANSA) - New York, April 27 - New York has feted Italian cuisine as 25 restaurants selected by the Italy-America Chamber of Commerce (IACC) on Tuesday night received the quality seal "Italian Hospitality" at Manhattan's Metropolitan Pavilion.
    The requirements to get the laurel were using genuine products (DOP and IGP), an almost exclusively Italian wine list, a high level of service, the use of 100% Italian extra-virgin olive oil and a love of the Italian language. "The aims of the project are supporting and valorising Italian restaurants around the world, creating a network to permit the realisation of events to valorise the territories which typical products come from, using the RIM network to guarantee the excellence of the DOP and IGP products, and promoting our excellent cuisine," said IACC Secretary-General Federico Tozzi. "We as Italy-America Chamber of Commerce are working 360 days a year to monitor and verify that the 'Italian Hospitality' standards are respected," he added.
    IACC President Alberto Milani noted that there are currently some 300 restaurants certified as such in the United States.
    "The importance of these sentinels of Made in Italy in American territory is very considerable," Milani said, "because they carry out a continual education of the US consumer about Italian food and wine".