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Costa partners with 'Italy's finest' brands to hone crew F&B expertise

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Costa pastry chefs refresh their skills at CAST Alimenti
Costa Cruises and some of its brand partners have teamed to train crew in workshops and master's courses that impart knowledge about 'Italy's finest' products served on board.

This Scuole di Mestiere (Trade Schools) program offers courses designed in collaboraton with illy brand coffee (Università del Caffè illy), Ferrari sparkling wines (Cantine Ferrari), Barilla pasta (Academia Barilla), the pastry school CAST Alimenti and the University of Gastronomic Science (Università degli Studi di Scienze Gastronomiche or UNISG Pollenzo).

'Excellent Italian products that are the envy of the world are also the fruit of a culture and expertise that we are bringing on board our ships by means of the Trade Schools,' Costa president Neil Palomba said.

By the end of 2016 Costa will have trained more than 90 shipboard managers, equipping them with the values, vision, professionalism and quality of these brands. In turn, they'll act as trainers, passing their knowledge to their teams and turning the ships into continuing education centers.

At the Università del Caffè illy in Trieste, a center of excellence to foster coffee culture and knowledge, course participants learn techniques to make the perfect espresso and cappuccino.

Cantine Ferrari will teach crew about the history, values, local roots and food pairings for Italy's top-range sparkling wines. This will enable the servers to inform passengers about the characteristics of Ferrari Trentodoc spumante.

Costa chefs are certified as ambassadors of Italian cuisine at Academia Barilla. After training that alternates visits to Barilla’s laboratories with practical lessons, the chefs will be well-prepared to stage cooking demonstrations and authoritatively present Italy’s most famous food staple and internationally recognized export: pasta.

At CAST Alimenti, the line's pastry chefs can take a refresher course, hone their skills and master patisserie techniques including decoration and chocolate-making.

And at UNISG Pollenzo, Costa's pizza chefs and bakers learn about ingredients like flour, yeast base and mixes for bread and pizza, with special attention to their environmental implications and sustainability.