Ireland is not just beer. The partnership signed between Bord Bia and JRE–Jeunes Restaurateurs Italia aims to give a strong boost to meat and fish products from the British island. The fact chefs are Italian creates an interesting partnership between two apparently distant cultures. "We are very proud to announce this partnership: for years we have been following the association, the chefs and the incredible work they do to implement creativity in the kitchen", declares Francesca Perfetto, market specialist at Bord Bia, the government agency for the promotion of products Irish food & beverage. "By this collaboration -she continues- we also hope to increase the Chefs' Irish Beef Club (CIBC) - our initiative that brings together many renowned chefs from all over the world - giving them the opportunity to discover beef, lamb and Irish seafood and to learn about the delicacies of the Emerald Island to enhance them by bringing to the table, at the same time, the natural beauty of this magnificent country and its important values in the field of sustainability and animal welfare practices".

For his part, Filippo Saporito, president of JRE-Italia (an association that brings together the youngest and most representative chefs of haute cuisine), states: "For us JRE chefs, it has always been primary to select products and raw materials of the highest quality, to understand their to use them to the fullest in our kitchens, because knowing Italian excellence and ingredients from other countries allows us to generate gustatory richness, as well as contaminations between flavors and culinary cultures capable of further increasing ideas, proposals and reciprocal exchanges". The newborn Italian-Irish partnership, therefore, "also represents a further source of growth and creativity", which "starts from the variety of Irish delicacies and typical products, the result of a land rich in history and nature of rare beauty", he concludes.

This collaboration is part of a broader plan to enhance Irish products, a path that Bord Bia has been pursuing for several years. The partnership, in fact, provides for numerous joint communication activities which will have, as main interlocutors, the final consumer and operators in the sector. One of the JRE chefs involved in the project is Federico Pettenuzzo, 1 Michelin star, experimenter of new creations with Irish fish products.