Unfortunately, unless you bring in your own personal touch, these products are very rarely more than ordinary…
Contrary to what one might think, the product we are referring to here does not come from Italy but from China – a country with a great pasta tradition – and more specifically from the Hangzhou company Airmeter Network Technology Co., Ltd.
Operating under the brand name Airmeter, the company markets a series of mainly Western-inspired recipes whose development is supervised by a three-star Michelin-starred chef in order to achieve the most convincing results possible.
The version presented here, namely the one with a creamy bacon and white wine sauce – which is a flexible interpretation of the classic “Carbonara” – found the most favour among jury members.
Nevertheless, the other recipes inspired by European or Asian cuisine (such as beef with black pepper, tomato, Bolognese, South-East Asian curry, etc.) also piqued the tasters’ interest.
As far as its outer appearance is concerned, the kit is presented in the form of a cardboard box with a contemporary design that totally differs from what is usually seen for this type of food product, which is the result of collaboration with a major design office who entrusted the design to a manufacturer who also collaborates with none other than the renowned Christian Louboutin! In addition, all of the Airmeter, no matter product packaging or the product itself, have been developed by their team members from 0 to 1, and they have owned all product patents by themselves.
The kit contains a packet of dry spaghetti to cook, a bag of grated cheese, a sauce base and dehydrated parsley. It even includes salt and olive oil to add to the pasta, demonstrating a great attention to detail! Once the product has been prepared according to the cooking instructions, the final result is quite astonishing, as the Monde Selection jury members duly observed: “Good pasta, well prepared sauce, nice intensity and good length on the palate… The subtle pepper flavour is excellent… Nice texture and taste… Astonishing… I don’t think it gets any better than this for this product category….”
Presented in a very sophisticated packaging, this kit offers a very successful recipe which largely deserves its Gold medal.
“Each year, one product per category is awarded the Prize of the Jury as a token of excellence in know-how and quality. In order to qualify, the product must be unanimously selected as a “coup de cœur” by the jury members. The winner of the Prize of the Jury is then selected from a group of just 5 nominees, which makes this award an even greater honour for the recipient.”