It's said that the fastest way to learn about one's culture is through food. That's the idea behind The Italian Food Festival, which opened last night at the Minzu Hotel as part of the 18th Meet in Beijing Arts Festival. For 14 days, visitors can satisfy their palates with authentic Italian cusine from the north of Italy all the way down to the south. I was lucky enough to sample some of the fare, and even learned how to make a traditional Italian dish. Take a look!

Buon appetito! It's a taste of Italy in Beijing.

As part of the Meet in Beijing Arts Festival, the guests here tonight are getting to MEET the best of authentic Italian cuisine.

From classic Italian dishes such as lasagna and gnocci, to delicious radicchio crepes, and the seafood inspired "vitello tonnato", it's a foodie's paradise. And perhaps, a dieter's biggest temptation.

This year, Italy is the guest of honor country for "Meet in Beijing", the city's biggest annual arts festival, now in its 18th year.

But this marks one of the few times that organizers have decided to pair a food festival alongside the 130 performances and art exhibitions happening in various venues across the Chinese capital.

LI JINSHENG, GENERAL MANAGER CHINA ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT GROUP "If we put cuisine into this Italian festival, as a country, our guest country of honor for this Meet in Beijing Festival, it might not only attract more attention but also we can see from the cuisine itself, the culture. In China we have a saying, 'Ming yi shi wei tian, or food is number one.' It's the first thing for the people."

"Let me ask you first Mr. Amadei, what are your expectations for the Festival this year and tell us how it's going to be special, different."

FRANCO AMADEI, CULTURE COUNSELOR ITALIAN EMBASSY, CHINA "Oh thank you Jennifer, First of all, in the occassion to try Italian food for two weeks at the Minzu Hotel, I think it's a great occassion to try different kinds of Italian foods. You know Italy is also like China. Small country, much smaller than China, but huge tradition of food. And wine!"

"Food is always good with wine of course. Now Mr. Scarpa can you tell us about Italian wine culture in China. I know it isn't number one but it is slowly trying to move up the ladder."

AMADEO SCARPA ITALIAN TRADE AGENCY "Correct, thank you very much for the question. You know that Chinese consumers are getting more and more sophisticated. So this is the momentum, this is the right time to show the country who is not only the first producer of wine in the world, but also the country with the biggest selection of grapes."

JENNIFER HSIUNG MINZU HOTEL, BEIJING "I'm here with chef fabio who's going to teach us a classic Italian dish, saffron risotto." 

The ingredients for Saffron Risotto are rather simple, but making it requires a lot of attention, and timing is key.

When the risotto reaches a rich yellow color, it's time to add the star ingredient: the saffron, which comes from a flower and can be quite expensive.

After 16 minutes of stirring, the dish is almost done. 

"Okay, we're going to go try this saffron risotto right now."

"Buon Appetito chef Fabio, thank you so much!"

"Buon Appetito"

 And of course, it's always smart to save room for dessert. And tonight, there is quite a selection.

JENNIFER HSIUNG MINZU HOTEL, BEIJING "Now chef Fabio is going to show us some other traditional desserts that are being served tonight. Okay, what do we have here?" 

JENNIFER HSIUNG MINZU HOTEL, BEIJING "Now we're going to look at one of my favorite dishes as a kid, still one of my favorites. Lasagna."

If chicken soup is for the soul, then Italian food might just be for the heart, and it seems that here in China, the people here have certainly developed a taste for it. The Italian food festival will run from May 14 to May 27th at the Minzu Hotel in Beijing.

Jennifer Hsiung, CGTN.