The Slow Food Chefs’Alliance Comes to Albania

Slow Food and VIS Albania (Volontariato Internazionale per lo Sviluppo), in collaboration with the Albanian Ministry for Agriculture, Rural Development and Water Management, are proud to announce the launch of the Slow Food Chefs’Alliance in Albania.

The Alliance will be officially presented on June 19, 2015 at 9am in the hall of the Ministry for Agriculture, Rural Development and Water Management, Sheshi Skenderbej 2, Tirana.

Speaking at the event will be Piero Sardo, president of the Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity; Pier Paolo Ambrosi, coordinator of VIS Albania projects; Lauresha Grezda, Director-General for Agriculture and Fishing in Albania and Armand Kikino, an expert on the history of Albanian gastronomy. Certificates will be presented to the chefs who have signed up to the Chefs’ Alliance, followed by a tasting of traditional Albanian foods.

Albania has 22 Ark of Taste products, one existing Presidium (Permet Gliko) and one currently in the process of being established, Mishavin, a cheese made by transhumant herders from upper Kelmendi, in the Albanian Alps.

In recent years, many chefs have helped raise the profile of Albanian gastronomy, creating a fascinating food scene in the country. Slow Food is now asking for their help to support small-scale food producers and safeguard biodiversity and culinary traditions.

One of the first chefs to join the Alliance is Altin Prenga, the convivium leader of Slow Food Fishta. Together with his brother Anton, he runs the restaurant Mrizi i Zanave, by now recognized as a national institution. Inspired by Italian osterias, the brothers have created a restaurant that highlights Albania’s rich gastronomic heritage, using traditional recipes and sourcing local and sustainable foods, which they buy directly from small-scale producers.

Other chefs participating in the project include Urim Jace, of the restaurant Antigonea in Permet; Alfred Marku from Rapsodia in Lezha; Kasem Hida from Kasemi in Elbasan; Gjon Dukgilaj from Tradita Gegë & Toskë and Marketin Rraboshta from Enoteka, both in Shkodër; and in, Tirana, Reshat Taku from Shefat e Kuzhinës, Zamira Buxheli from Bujtina e Gjelit, Rajdi Pojanaku from Rajdi & Co, Rigels Rumani from Mondial, Gezim Musliaka from Gourmet Markezi, Leondha Velika from Nano Resort, Dashamir Elezi from Etnik and Bledar Kola, back in Tirana after a long experience at Noma in Copenaghen.

For further information, please contact the Slow Food International Press Office:

Paola Nano, +39 329 8321285 [email protected]

Slow Food involves over a million of people dedicated to and passionate about good, clean and fair food. This includes chefs, youth, activists, farmers, fishers, experts and academics in over 158 countries; a network of around 100,000 Slow Food members linked to 1,500 local chapters worldwide (known as convivia), contributing through their membership fee, as well as the events and campaigns they organize; and over 2,500 Terra Madre food communities who practice small-scale and sustainable production of quality food around the world.