Italian chef awarded by the Elysée. The exceptional recognition, even more so given the lively competition between French and Italian cuisine, came to the Chef of the Quirinale directly from the special correspondent of the President Emmanuel Macron for gastronomy. Fabrizio Boca, executive chef of the Presidency of the Italian Republic, two days ago at Palazzo Farnese he received the insignia of Officer of the Ministerial Order of Agricultural Merit from Guillaume Gomez, Ambassador for gastronomy and Special Envoy of the President of the French Republic for gastronomy and food, and from Martin Briens, Ambassador of France in Italy.
Boca has cooked over the years for kings, queens and heads of state, from Queen Elisabeth to Obama, as he supervises state dinners and institutional events and evidently his dishes have struck the palate of Macron and his wife Brigitte, guests several times at the Quirinale. Over the years, thank you too at the will of Sergio Mattarella the choice of dishes has veered increasingly towards exaltation of Italian regional excellence, with the selection of typical local products and reworking of old traditional recipes
The French Ambassador retraced the decades-long career of the Rome-born Chef, greeting ”a curious, ambitious Chef but also very attentive to sharing his knowledge”. Martin Briens wanted to remember the thirty years ”spent in the illustrious Cuisine Brigade” of the Quirinale, the foundation of the OCUCO cooking and table arts school, the attention to innovative techniques and quality but also its creativity , the ”desire to engage in the collective, and for others”, and his commitment to social inclusion. The Ambassador concluded the ceremony by handing over the award for Agricultural Merit which also represents a ”link between our two great nations, important to our daily lives, our cultures, our histories and our economies. Boca has worked for the Presidency of the Republic for 30 years and for some years it has opened the kitchens of the Quirinale to collaboration with the Italian Association of people with Down syndrome, thanks to which four aspiring Chefs at a time collaborate to serve the powerful of the earth, as well as various social inclusion projects launched by the Presidency of the Republic together with the training of young students from Italian hotel institutes.