Abu Dhabi hosts 'Dinner with Dante'

Director of the Italian Cultural Institute in Abu Dhabi, Dr. Ida Zilio Grandi

Under the title “Dinner with Dante”, Abu Dhabi will host the activities of the Italian Cuisine Week in the World, organized by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and sponsored by the Italian Cultural Institute in Abu Dhabi on November 28, bringing the UAE capital to the list of cities and global destinations that hosted this event in its previous sessions. .

Ida Zilio Grandi, director of the Italian Cultural Institute in Abu Dhabi, explained to (Emirates Today) that the event, which takes place at the "St. Regis" Abu Dhabi, is not only concerned with the kitchen, but is an initiative, or rather, a set of initiatives that take place every year during a week. One in November, and aims to raise some of the major issues around the world related to food and cuisine such as the topics of quality, sustainability, culture, food safety, the right to food, education, identity and biodiversity, among others. Pointing out that the current session is the sixth of this global event, and the participating chefs are scheduled to be inspired by medieval meals in Italy, which represents a journey in Italian culture from that period to the present era.

Grandi indicated that this year's annual event celebrates the 7th anniversary of the death of the great poet and philosopher Dante Alighieri, who is one of the most prominent creators in the world, in addition to that he presented in his epic work "The Divine Comedy" a unique model in relying on other cultures to develop a process Intellectual production, which contributes to expanding the scope of innovation in the field of culture, where the “Divine Comedy” depicts a city in its general structure and in many details related to Arab and Islamic culture, especially what is related to the Night Journey and Ascension, which Dante knew thanks to the translation of the Latin language in Spain.

She added: "The Divine Comedy is also known to the Arab reader, as the first translation of it appeared in Tripoli between 1930 and 1933 by an employee of the Italian government in Libya called Aboud Abu Rashid (d. 1955). And the last translation of it was by the French poet and academic, Kazem Jihad Hassan (d. 1955), of Iraqi origin. I feel proud and honored that some of these translations are also preserved in the Qasr Al Watan Library in Abu Dhabi.”

She stated that the celebration of food, the desire to share it with others, hospitality and generosity are qualities that combine Italians and Arabs, and food and the rituals of preparing and presenting it are part of the heritage, customs and traditions that characterize every society, and therefore countries are interested in the events associated with it.

And she added: “Food is itself a culture when it is produced, prepared, transformed, consumed and when it is chosen as well, while sharing food means sharing a culture.

Man chooses his food according to criteria related to the nutritional dimension and “symbolic” values, and man is the only being who does not eat food as it is presented to him in nature, but on the contrary, he adjusts and changes it according to his needs, preferences and identity.

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