Here are some anecdotes about the competitions, the competitors and the judges (local and international) and the locations of this year’s edition:
- The fil rouge of this year’s selections was the “Prosecco hills”, matching tiramisù to another typical food and wine product of the Treviso area. This is the reason why the selections were held in Conegliano, Pieve di Soligo and Valdobbiadene, famous cities for the production of the Prosecco Superiore Docg;
- In Conegliano, the competition took place on 1st November and the location was the cloister of the former San Francesco Convent. In Pieve di Soligo, more precisely in Solighetto, the selections were held at Villa Brandolini; in Valdobbiadene the competition took place at Villa dei Cedri (former factory also known as “Villa Piva”);
- This year, the international competitions came from China, Indonesia, Canada, France, Austria, Germany, Morocco and Albany;
- Beyond Treviso, people from Italy came from Turin, Milan, Como, Naples, Taranto, La Spezia, Cosenza;
- The selection phase included 180 judges: the online test released by Twissen to recruit the judges was made by more than 7000 participants. Only the half of them actually passed it (10 right answers out of 15): the questions were about the preparation of tiramisù, its history and the regulation of the competition;
- The judges of the selections, who passed the test with the highest scores, came from every corner of the world: among the others Canada, Germany, Turkey, the Netherlands;
- The participants were given a “competitor’s kit”, including the basic Tiramisù ingredients: a pack of ladyfingers, mascarpone cheese, a pack of sugar, eggs (pasteurised), coffee made in a moka pot, cocoa powder;
- In total, the amount of ingredients used during the competition was: 32.000 ladyfingers, 183 kilos of mascarpone cheese, 4.000 eggs, 50 kilos of cocoa powder, about 700 kilos of sugar and more than 23 kilos of coffee;
- The competition plate used during the selections was square-shaped and measures 15×15 cm (the exact length of a ladyfinger). The semifinals and finals one had a rectangular shape and measures 28×17 cm;
- The competitions was also joined by Jacopo, a boy with autism, accompanied by the Foundation “Oltre il Labirinto Onlus”, which guarantees help and assistance both during the childhood and the adulthood of people with autism;
- The charity organisation supported by the Tiramisù World Cup this year was “Team for Children Onlus” of Vicenza, an association founded in Padua in 2009 which collaborates with the doctors of the Padua Hospital, providing school supplies and supporting the purchasing of medical supplies, financing medical job contracts and supporting both psychologically and economically the families of children with pathologies;
- The TWC 2018 was also supported by AIC (Italian association for coeliacs): for its members, the TWC organisation reserved appropriate desks to compete and gluten free products in Pieve di Soligo, on Friday 2nd November;
- On the website www.tiramisuworldcup.com there is a section called “Experiences”, where it is still possible to buy the “Tiramisù Card”, which includes many discounts for bars, restaurants and activities which are associated with FIPE-Confcommercio, the Italian Federation for bars and restaurants (but not only);
- This year, around the TWC, several events were organised under the name of “Tiramisù World Cup Extra”, which allowed people to live the city of Treviso in a different way, from the “The Stories of Tiramisù in Treviso” (Wednesday 31st October) to the “Cantata del Caffè” opera (Saturday 3rd November);
- On October 10th the “Tiramisù Sport Cup” was held in Treviso, a challenge between the De Longhi Treviso Basket team, the Imoco Volley team and the Benetton Rugby team (which won the competition!);
- On October 21st the football game called “One Tiramisù for ADMO” (ADMO is the association of bone-marrow donors) was organised, between a team of journalists from Treviso called Tv Pressing and the administrators of the “Prosecco hills”: the proceeds were given to ADMO Mareno di Piave.
For the competition, the Tiramisù World Cup chose the “ingredients” of: Matilde Vicenzi (ladyfingers), Hausbrandt (coffee), Lattebusche (mascarpone cheese), Perugina (bitter cocoa powder), Amadori (eggs) and Italia Zuccheri (sugar). Beyond them, also Astoria Wines, Dolcefreddo Moralberti, Ascotrade (official provider of energy), Tognana Porcellane and Best Western Premier BHR Treviso Hotel, Bi Holiday by Biasuzzi.
