The Accademia Italiana della Cucina hosted a dinner on the theme rice at the Phoenicia Hotel in Floriana.

Guests included Italian Ambassador Giovanni Umberto de Vito, French and Russian Ambassadors Michel Vandepoorter and Boris Yu Marchuk and Italian Cultural Institute director Salvatore Schirmo.

Dinner was prepared by the hotel’s executive chef Saul Halevi. Massimiliana Tomaselli, from the academy, said the dinner brought together various threads and connections.

“Gastronomy is part and parcel of culture and says a lot about civilisations,” she added.

The academy devoted detailed research on this year’s them, rice, which resulted in a book on the subject.

“Rice is not viewed as a simple cereal but one which has a story behind it, the cultivation of which is ancient,” Tomaselli said.

The many courses served to the guests all had a particular variety of rice as a basic ingredient. Adding to the experience was Halevi’s explanation about what was behind the preparation of each course.

The book can be downloaded from www.accademia1953.it.