Two top Varese chefs among the finalists. Vote for one of them online

Varese cuisine is the protagonist of one of the most popular national Internet polls. A few days ago, the Personality of the year poll, for the “Italia a Tavola” award officially began. For the fifth consecutive year, the online food and wine magazine has put forward three categories of candidates (chefs, opinion leaders, head and wine waiters), each of which will have a winner. And, without any mediation (except a check, by a committee chaired by the chef Matteo Scibilia, that votes are cast properly), all of the participants will be judged by web users, who will decide the winners of this year’s poll, with their votes. The participation of internauts was already considerable in the preparatory phase, when more than a thousand candidates were put forward; the candidates were evaluated by a panel of experts from "Italia a Tavola", who selected a final group of 36 for each of the 3 categories in the poll, and it is these who are now competing online. And it is here that we find two chefs from Varese; among the 36 finalists in the "Chef" category, pre-selected by internet users and critics, there are Roberto Valbuzzi (see photo, left) and Ilario Vinciguerra. Roberto went from the kitchens of his family’s restaurant, the "Crotto Valtellina" in Malnate, to the television studios of Gambero Rosso. Ilario arrived in Galliate Lombardo, from Campania (and can now be found in the restaurant in Gallarate that bears his name), with the demanding label of “Jeunes restaurateurs d’Europe”, the proud holder of one Michelin star and 3 Gambero Rosso forks. Now, it is the turn of fans and connoisseurs to support them via the Internet; voting will remain open until 13 January 2013.