slow food

Over the next three days, the royal couple will visit the Colosseum, watch a joint Italian and UK airforce flypast and learn about Italian slow food.

The mythic image of the peasant kitchen also shows up in other parts of the food world, especially in recent years, as “slow food” and farm-to-table cooking have exploded into the mainstream.

The UK-Italy dinner, hosted by the King and Queen at their Highgrove estate in Gloucestershire, is a celebration of "slow food", which uses fresh local food and traditional cooking methods.

The King hailed this "most splendid evening which brings together two things very dear to my heart - slow food and Italy".

Chef Francesco Mazzei will use local ingredients to cook an Italian menu, with the dishes reflecting the "slow food" style of cooking, which advocates fresh, regional dishes cooked in traditional ways.