Promoting the Culture of Italian Cuisine

Italian businessman Alessandro Balli has been around in Hungary - and involved in bilateral trade - for quite some time, he and his wife run a restaurant in Budapest. He talked to Diplomacy & Trade about using his expertise in cuisine as part of Italian culture.

Promoting the Culture of Italian Cuisine

TUSCAN BUSINESSMAN WITH DECADES-LONG EXPERIENCE IN HUNGARY

“At the moment, I’m searching for high-quality Hungarian wines for the purpose of selling them in Hungary but – in the long run – I would also like to export them to Italy and other countries.” How else would Italian businessman Alessandro Balli, a well-known importer of Italian foods and wines start an interview if not with wine? “Wine is a kind of love for me. It is as normal as I am Toscano,” he stresses, adding that Hungarian wines, “for instance, the very fine wines produced in the Villány region in southern Hungary,” are not as well known in Italy as they should be and he would like to change that in order to improve business opportunities.

The venue where he talks to Diplomacy & Trade is a restaurant located next to the City Park in Budapest. “It is really my wife’s business; I’m just giving some advice on the choice of wines and cuisine.” Balli points out.

The couple took over the restaurant a year ago and the establishment has shown great potential this period. “We have very good clientele, there are several embassies and office buildings nearby and people are attracted here by the kitchen but I would like to further increase the quality of food and drink – both the Hungarian and the Italian cuisine we have here,” Balli says and he has the expertise for that. He is a member of the Accademia Italiana della Cucina (Italian Academy of Cuisine), which is basically a cultural institution of the Republic of Italy and aims to preserve the great traditions of Italian food and drink. “It is a very good concept as cuisine itself is part of Italian culture. The Italian kitchen is known and popular worldwide and I would like to show the Hungarian market how diverse Italian cuisine is, how many possibilities it may offer.”

With a smile, Alessandro Balli denies he is an ambassador of Italian cuisine but says he would like to teach those interested the tricks of his native country’s cooking traditions. “When in my import business of Italian food, a client asks me something about olive oil, for instance, I can only offer the best varieties. The client finds it very good and I confirm that this is what REAL olive oil tastes like, it is more expensive but this is the real thing. I import these from the best olive oil production regions in Italy, like Toscana. We’re also importing fresh fish – at the moment, for the restaurant only. We’re organizing several events here and I would like to offer the best to our guests. Since I don’t find the type and quality of fish I want available on the Hungarian market, we choose to import them. The same is true for the most famous Italian pasta, Gragnano – we import it for the restaurant and we also sell it to Hungarian customers.”

He adds that he would like to increase cooperation between Hungarian and Italian food industry businesses. “For this reason, I’ve contacted several Italian companies who would like to start a business in Hungary.” As a business advisor, Alessandro Balli has the trust of Italian firms as someone who has an extensive knowledge of the Hungarian market, having lived in this country for more than two decades and being an active member of the Italian Chamber of Commerce here.