Standing in an overcrowded departure gate, waiting to board our delayed RyanAir flight to Genoa, fortune didn’t seem to be on our side. Hopefully, this would all be left behind in the UK and Italy would be a little luckier. After four months of anticipation, and zero practice, it was time for me to take part in the 10th World Pesto Championship final. Come with me to Genoa, Italy.
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The 10th Pesto World Championship
In November 2023, a fun and utterly surreal evening saw me win the London heat of the Pesto World Championship. I was a rather tipsy and it was all very unreal. You can read all about it in my last blog post about this crazy experience.
As a “finalista”, I was invited to Italy to take part in the final. The kind organisers offer finalists a room in Genoa and to help with the price of flights. Well, it would be incredibly rude to say no!! I was ready to take this mad ride.
My mum, hearing of this success, immediately forwarded me a youtube video or a pesto master and was excited to hear about my training scheule. I think it was slightly shocking when I revealed that I wasn’t planning to practise. Honestly, I was a bit conflicted about this but thought it would be way more fun to keep trying to ride the wave of beginner’s luck. This was probably the wrong decision in hindsight but I was all kinds of giddy.
Heading to Genoa
Three months slipped by in a blur of festive fun, work shifts, and three international trips. All of a sudden, it was March, and time to hop on a plane to Italy. There had been zero practise…but lots of eating pesto of course. I was lucky enough to visit Genoa briefly, as part of a cruise in January 2023. It was rather cold and rainy so I was not convinced I had gotten a sense of the city. It was very cool to return as part of the pesto festival.
The Big Day
We got up bright and early and made our way downstairs for breakfast. Still a bit jetlagged from India, it was a struggle. As we got ready, I crammed by watching pesto videos, including the one Mum had sent me in good faith. Our hotel, the Best Western Plus City Hotel, put on an excellent breakfast spread. I don’t eat breakfast at home but couldn’t resist having a few bits. The croissants were buttery and crispy, and the smoked salmon perfect (I had a real feast here the next day). I had joked about getting drunk at breakfast to match my booze level at the original competition. Obviously, I hadn’t really meant it but there was Prosecco on the buffet sooooo…
Don’t worry, I only had the one.
Palazzo Ducale
The final took place in Genoa’s cultural hub, Palazzo Ducale (the Doge’s palace). I remembered it from the cruise I took in 2023 but my friend and I had decided not to pay to go in. It was cool to head up the huge stairs but the scale was rather intimidating. I was handed a number and then we waited, eyeballing the competition. It was like the maddest audition I’d ever done.
I was expecting it all to take place in a series of meeting rooms but it was actually held in a big, beautiful hall called the Salone del Maggior Consiglio (the Grand Council Chamber). The walls and ceiling were bedecked in glittering gold, stunning paintings and lined in striking red marble. We were escorted in, one by one, and it took the breath away.
Everyone was shown to their table on the side. I had number 35. Then the awkward wait began. We had assumed that, with a couple of hours between arrival and the competition, I woud have some free time. Instead, we waited in the hall, chatting nervously with one another. I met a lovely lady from Paris, a gent from Milan that then disappeared for ages, and a lady from Liguria thanks to the marvels of Google translate.
The Rules
Everybody is given same gear and the same ingredients…kind of. You are given an apron and cap. I think we were meant to keep the cap on the whole time but not everyone did. Trying to win any Brownie points possible, I was in the cap from the beginning to the end!
On the table was a selection of ingredients. We all had:
- A bag of basil – Local basil which apparently has smaller more fragrant leaves.
- Two packets of pine nuts – I think this brand was a sponsor.
- A small bottle of extra virgin olive oil – Local and delicious. Everyone took their bottles with them.
- Pecorino – More about this later.
- Parmesan – Always a good idea.
- Course salt – This helps break down the basil leaves during the crushing.
- Garlic – This came in a cute little bag.
- A wooden pestle and stone mortar – We could use our own or borrow one. Both people on either side of me had their own….which was scary.
The combination of these ingredients and the method of creating the pesto all lead to our scores. We were also given a questionnaire about the amounts of ingredients we planned to use, and about our opinions on making pesto.
The Starting Blocks
Next door, the children’s competition took place. Teams of two or three budding chefs challenged each other for the title of junior champs Havin seen a fair few episodes of Junior Bake Off and Junior Masterchef, I can guarantee that every one of these kids is more talented than me. I like to think of mysef as the comedy entrant in Celebrity Bake Off.
The main doors opened and the public entered. Then, from a the side room, the kids made their way into our hall then things really began. The children’s choir sang a nice song and the speeches began. Everything was in Italian but we clapped when everyone else clapped. An award was presented to the entrant that had come from furthest away. Everyone had clocked the Japanese guy but there were two Brazilian people who took the crown.
Ready, Pesto, GO!
Smiling and clapping along, I slightly missed the start of the compeition and realised that everyone had started moving. I leapt into action! Going though my videos of the original heat, I had two main takeaways (that were clear instructions).
- Don’t use too much garlic or salt.
- Use one spoon of pecorino and two of parmesan (sung for effect to myself).
I started by crushing a whole clove of garlic, saving a little just incase I wanted to add it in ater. Then one spoon of pine nuts went in, smushing them until creamy. So far, so good. Then the nerves set in!
Error One
I was ready to move on to my basil but no one else had picked up their bag. There I stood, wondering what I had missed. I consulted with Mr Fluskey but he didn’t know of course. Then, I realised people were on to their basil. I panicked and threw some in, beginning to crush the bright green leaves before realising I hadn’t taken the stalks off! Having used a fresh plant last time, I hadn’t thought about stripping the eaves as I had done it naturally. “It’s fine”, I thought, “I will just pound the living daylights out of them”.
Error Two
Giving the mortar a joyful bashing, Mr Fluskey got my attention. There was a lady standing with him and they were both telling me that it was time for cheese. I was unsure but worried that I was getting the whole thing wrong, I put in half. One pecorino, and half a parmesan….if you have spotted the error, you are doing better than I was.
Judges passed by in front of me as I continued struggling through. The scrutiny wasn’t deflected by my cap brim quite as well as hoped. I added the rest of the cheese (another spoon of pecorino and another half of parmesan) and finished with a flourish of oil. 25 minutes, not too shabby.
I gave my concoction a final taste. Something was off. It was so cheesy! I was confused as I was sure I had used the same amounts of everything as last time. Maybe I had picked more basil from the plant than I had used from the bag? I stripped more leaves, grabbed a little more of my crushed garlic and a tiny bit of salt and chucked them in. I was slightly frantic. What if they wouldn’t crush well? Time was ticking by and this may be my undoing. I did my best but it was still so weirdly cheesy. Confused about the pesto but out of time, I decided to decorate the bowl with two little basil leaves. Again, any Brownie points I could wangle was good.
Oh….PecoriNO!
It was only at the very end, when they announced the final was over, I realised why it seemed so wrong. Despite the one of the only instructions I remember from my original video was the song, “One Pecorino, Two Parmesan”, I dumped two lots of really strong pecorino in. You wouldn’t believe what a difference it makes. It was still nice, but not pesto. The cheese was so strong that I had the aftertaste in my mouth for ages. What a fool.
Clearly, I used up ALL my beginner’s luck in round one and I shouldn’t have let the nerves get the better of me.
As we were leaving the judges to their work, we bumped into the gentleman that started the whole World Pesto Championship, Roberto Panizza. I was deeply embarrassed to tell how I had messed up but it was so nice to see him again.
Our Afternoon in Genoa
We went for a lovely lunch at a nearby spot which was really busy, pleasingly cheap and really yummy. We got some pesto pasta (obviously), meat ravioli and a small jug of wine to ease my shame. For dessert, I had a brilliant tiramisu and Mr Fluskey enjoyed a rum affogato (thats ice cream and rum, no espresso).
After lunch, we took an audio tour around Genoa. It was nice to stay out and awake and to walk off lunch. There were some really pretty buildings to discover and have you been to Italy if you haven’t been in at least three churches a day?
The Pesto Party
We made it back to the hotel with 45 minutes to get freshened up. Everyone was invited back to Palazzo Ducale for a pesto party. We weren’t sure what to expect. The sensible part of my brain expected wine and a pesto buffet but a tiny part hoped there would be pesto wrestling in the middle of the room and pesto foam raves in the side rooms. We entered and saw stalls surrounding the room, with plenty of people mingling with glasses of wine. The sensible option clearly won out.
A Plethora of Pesto
We had a lovely time working our way between the different stops, grabbing tasty bites to share. Some highlights included:
- A selection of cheese – We discovered a new love, Paesanella.
- Pesto mashed potato topped with lovely soft octopus and more pesto.
- Genovese tomato salad with anchovy fondue.
- Artichoke cream, pepper crumble and more super tender octopus – I had to get seconds.
- A vat of pasta and pesto – I wonder if they used to competition pesto for this?
- Croquettes with garlic mayo.
- Salami with pesto – We couldn’t take this home but wish we could. It was so tasty.
- Americano al Basilico Cocktail – It had distinctly Negroni vibes so I think it was that with added basil. Mr Fluskey loved these so much that he had seconds…and thirds. I had two and then grabbed a white wine.
It was so nice to relax, taste delicious morsels and say hi to people we met earlier in the day. Plus, it was all sound tracked by a musical duo singing about the joys of Liguria and its cuisine. Here is our favourite song from the evening:
The Results
A few days after returning to the UK, the full competition score listings were announced. I was almost too scared to look but somehow, I beat 24 people! I guess that means I came 75th our of 199 or so. It is not amazing but I am weirdly proud that I didn’t lose outright.
Final Thoughts on my Time in the World Pesto Championship Final
What an amazing experience it was to take part in the World Pesto Championship. The whole thing was surreal, fun and a great excuse to return to Genoa. I was going to say that it has given me a greater appreciation of pesto but I already loved it so much that I am not sure that could be possible. On the flip side, after my poor showing, I was concerned I would be put off by pesto. That is part of the reason we order pesto for lunch. Happily, I can report, I consumed two giant bowls of pesto-smothered pasta within a week of returning home from Italy so no danger of PTSD here!
Rosie xx
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