[spyece]

GLOBETROTTING GREEN GOURMETS



While most Kawasaki Racing Team members are pretty adventurous when it comes to sampling the local culinary delights on overseas trips, there are a few exceptions. The riders, for example, prefer to stick with pasta during the three days of a Grand Prix weekend, but it's difficult to find when you're racing in places like China.

Which is why the Kawasaki Racing Team rely on the skills of their own galloping green gourmets on overseas trips. Regardless of where in the world the team happen to be racing, they enjoy Italian cuisine for every meal, courtesy of chefs Ivan Palmieri and Constantino 'Costa' Ghinzani and their custom-built kitchen in a flight case.

But whipping up a traditional Italian pasta dish requires more than just two chefs and a range of kitchen utensils. With the importation of food items prohibited by customs regulations in many of the countries visited on overseas trips, the first job for the Italian duo on arrival onsite is to find the ingredients they need to concoct their culinary masterpieces. Not such an easy job in a country like China, especially when you don't speak the language!

"The first year we came to China was a bit of a challenge," explains Ivan. "We tried to tell the staff in the hotel exactly what we were looking for, but the language barrier proved a big problem. In the end, we had no alternative but to get in a taxi and cruise around Shanghai city looking for somewhere that sold Western food, while trying to explain to the taxi driver what we were looking for using a mixture of Italian, English and sign language, none of which he understood!"

"Luckily, I managed to get in touch with a friend who runs an Italian restaurant in Shanghai, and he pointed us in the direction of a market where we could buy everything we needed. So, now, in our third year of coming to China, things are a lot easier."

For the intrepid Italian duo each day starts with a taxi ride to the local market for fresh produce, before they head out to the track to prepare lunch and dinner for the 35 members of the Kawasaki Racing Team present at overseas races.

Despite the fact that everything is prepared with the minimum of equipment in a room no bigger than a large cupboard, the two Italian maestros always manage to produce meals that wouldn't look out of place in even the finest Italian restaurant.