Cous cous recipes compete at the San Vito Lo Capo Festival

A special prize for the 'Cheap and tasty' cous cous, the best and least expensive recipe to beat the economic crisis, is one of the highlights of the Cous Cous Fest, the 15th edition of the international festival for cultural integration which kicked off today in San Vito Lo Capo, near Trapani. This year, the chefs competing for an award hail from nine countries: Ivory Coast, Egypt, France, Israel, Italy, Morocco, Palestine, Senegal and Tunisia. The recipes will be judged by a technical jury chaired by journalist Paolo Marchi and a popular jury. Italy will be represented by two chefs from San Vito, Piera Spagnolo and Katia Abrignani, together with Fabrizio Ferrari, from Lecco. Sisters Awa and Mare'me will represent the Ivory Coast with a recipe based on shrimps and cuttlefish. Other dishes will be based on vegetables and meat such as Egypt's cous cous prepared by a father and son, Aly Mohamed and Ahmad Mohamed, while Israeli chefs Boaz Cohen and Rafael Levi will use lemon, grouper, a cream of eggplants and sage. Morocco's Khadija Touil and Mohammed Chaouki Djedidi will present a recipe with, among others, lamb and saffron; Palestine's Romeo Musallam and Sana Nizam Saleh Saleh will showcase a cous cous with chicken and chick peas while Senegal's Ba Diatou will offer his version of cous cous with cod fish and vegetables; Tunisia's Mizoughi Aly and Brahim Najet Mkacher chose a recipe with red peppers and mutton. France, which won last year's prize awarded by the technical jury will be competing with Alice Delcourt, of Milan's 'L'Erba brusca' restaurant, and Francesca Cassis Leoni with a cous cous made with lamb, onions, honey, raisins and hazelnuts. San Vito Lo Capo will also celebrate the European territorial cooperation day - an event chosen by Sicily's regional government and the institutions managing the cross-border cooperation programmes Italy-Malta 2007-2013 and the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI) Italy-Tunisia 2007-2013 to mark the event celebrated in Europe and neighbouring countries. The initiative is promoted by the European Commission and organized by the Interact Programme to publicize the results of territorial cooperation and highlight the added value of the EU's contribution in developing territories and benefiting local populations. The institutional representatives of the two cross-border cooperation programmes will be in San Vito Lo Capo to present the projects which have so far obtained funding and the results achieved.