After introducing the “Discover Barilla” project last week, we have another important announcement about our parent company’s online activity. Barilla, the world’s number one pasta maker, announced last week its second annual call on pasta lovers to help fight hunger in the United States with the launch of The Celebrity Italian Table Cookbook.

To create the cookbook, Barilla US asked 5 of America’s favorite celebrities, one of the world’s leading Italian chefs and the most prominent party planner in the U.S. to help celebrate the Italian Table in 6 different ways.

Hollywood celebrities Stanley Tucci, Marisa Tomei, Debra Messing, Natalie Portman and Chris Daughtry shared their favorite pasta dishes with us. Chef Mario Batali recreated these dishes and developed a special menu for each party, while David Tutera developed creative and stunning table designs to make each experience special.

Barilla’s Celebrity Italian Table Cookbook offers the following celebrity-inspired recipes and table settings:
- Romantic Night with Chris Daughtry’s Rigatoni with Basil and Gorgonzola
- Celebratory Feast with Debra Messing’s Penne alla Vodka
- Girlfriends Gathering with Natalie Portman’s Penne alla Puttanesca
- Dinner Party with Marisa Tomei’s Farfalle “alla Marisa”
- Family Dinner with Stanley Tucci’s Spaghetti al Tonno
- Babbo with Mario Batali’s restaurant favorite Fettuccine with Zucca

The Celebrity Italian Table Cookbook is available online for free download at www.celebrityitaliantable.com for the entire month of February. For every downloaded copy of the cookbook, Barilla will donate 1$ to America’s Second Harvest, the US Food Bank Network. To thank the celebrities for their participation, Barilla is also making an additional $5,000 donation to America’s Second Harvest on their behalf. Follow this link for a cookbook preview, or this link for a direct download.

Since 1997, Barilla has been a supporter of America’s Second Harvest, donating over 5 million pounds of pasta. Donations are distributed among more than 200 member food banks serving all 50 states, the District of Colombia and Puerto Rico.

“Today in America there are more than 35 million people, 12 million of whom are children, who are at risk of hunger,” said Vicki Escarra, president and CEO of America’s Second Harvest. “We are grateful to have Barilla’s continued support for our fight against hunger. It’s easy to do your part by simply downloading this year’s cookbook.”

“Barilla is passionate about supporting hunger relief and passing on Italian traditions that show others how to bring people together around the table,” said Kirk Trofholz, president of Barilla US. “We are thrilled to partner again with America’s Second Harvest on this campaign and be part of such a highly worthwhile cause.”

Beside of the main fund raising for Second Harvest, The Celebrity Italian Table website proposes a photo contest, with the help of the online community of Gather.com: upload your Italian Table pictures on ItalianTable.Gather.com and every week a winner will receive a Barilla gift basket filled with pastas, sauces and olive oils. All weekly winners will be also eligible to win the grand prize of a $500 gift certificate to Williams-Sonoma. See the contest website for details.

More precious resources for all Italian food lovers are available at ItalianTable.Gather.com, such as premium articles by Barilla on how to host a pasta party, or the complete “Pasta 101: A Quick Guide for Making Perfect Pasta Every Time“.

Don’t forget to download your Celebrity Italian Cookbook today - your download will help Second Harvest, and will make all your friends happy next time you’ll invite them for an all-Italian, celebrity-inspired lunch or dinner!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 6th, 2008 at 12:00 am and is filed under academia barilla, academia barilla events, academia press office, celebrity chef, corporate social responsibility, food industry and media, gourmet events, gourmet menus, gourmet recipes, italian culinary tradition, italian food. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.