Gelato Festival 2016
Post-Brexit meltdown? Seek solace in the ultimate comfort food: gelato
This year’s Gelato Festival arrived in London just in the nick of time – the day after the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union. No matter what your opinion of the results, one thing is indisputable – a bad breakup calls for ice cream, lots of it. And that’s just what’s in store for visitors to Old Spitalfields Market this week. The Gelato Festival is an annual Italian competition with domestic and international stages. National 'gelatieri' each come up with a unique flavour to best represent their brands and themselves and put it forth for your criticism (and delight). Indeed, with eight flavours on show in beyond generous scoops, plus extra gelato given away at a workshop space, it’s definitely enough to perk anyone up.
“Gelato is happiness,” confirms industry veteran Vetulio Bondi with a wide smile. He is careful to draw a distinction between gelato and ice cream. Ice cream uses, unsurprisingly, cream and sometimes eggs. It’s also churned quickly, colder and is more fattening. Gelato uses milk, slow churning, and is served slightly warmer, meaning it maintains its signature silky softness. It’s also a better carrier for flavour, which allows for broad experimentation. And while the festival does boast varieties such as White Chocolate Bergamot, Quince Cheese and Cappuccino Fig, Bondi tells his workshop audience, “You don’t need strange ingredients to make good gelato. You can go to any supermarket.” This is an assertion Bondi and the teams at Old Spitalfields very recently had to put to the test.
“Yesterday night, the UK post stopped delivery of our ingredients from Italy,” admits another 'gelatiere', who would prefer not to be named (let’s call him Umberto – an underused Italian moniker). We all had to run around Tesco and the Shoreditch markets at 8 o’clock this morning to get ingredients. This is probably the freshest gelato you’ll ever eat!” Umberto blames the delivery delays on Brexit, news of which broke with the dawn. “I’m the enemy now,” he half jokes, pointing out 'il tricolore' on his chef whites. When asked what he thinks happened, Bondi replies simply, “Somebody was voting with his stomach, not his brain.” That’s hard to understand in such a whirlwind of delicious tastes, when both parts seem very much in happy agreement.
Still, the last minute innovation was impressive, and speaks volumes about the chops of the 'gelatiere' present. Strawberry and mint sorbet, green tea, and Oreo gelato all went down well, and Paolo Pomposi’s knock-up flavour of peach, candied orange peel and amaretto biscuit was simply sublime, and would surely have held up well in a contest of its own. The flavourful imagination and frozen possibilities don’t stop there. A jam-packed schedule of seminars are served up in the small mobile laboratory and workshop space, including creations of truffle butter gelato, new Mexican ice creams, gelato and food pairings, and even a special showcase of gelato cocktails by high flying London institution Duck and Waffle.
Now in it’s final weekend, it’s not too late to get a scoop of the action and have your say about this year’s best flavour of Italian gelato. It’s the second time in over a week that Londoners votes will influence a major European decision. But not to worry – the ingredients were finally delivered and the original gelatos are still on offer. The festival moves on next to Berlin, but the summer is long and there are more frozen treats to come to the capital… like boozy adults-only ice cream fest Slides and Scoops taking place in a Hackney playground July 3.
