Vancouverite James Coleridge Wins World’s Largest Gelato Competition in Florence, Italy

You know how there are those places that absolutely remind you of why you live in Vancouver? Bella Gelateria, located within the confines of the Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel (one of my favorite hotels in the entire Lower Mainland) is one of those. James Coleridge, whom I’m proud to call a friend, has made of gelato (specifically, the hand-crafted, thoughtfully-designed gelato he makes) an absolute art, one that I have been proud to showcase to many international visitors who come to Vancouver.

Eating some gelato at Bella Gelateria has become sort of a tradition for me and several of my close friends, including Mat Wilcox (of Wilcox PR fame). I took Sara Goldrick-Rab (professor of educational policy at University of Wisconsin Madison) to Bella Gelateria this year to enjoy some gelato. In general, I always take people I really like to Bella Gelateria if for nothing else so that they can taste some really, really good gelato.

I was thrilled when I found out that James won the world’s largest gelato competition in Florence (Italy). As per an informational email I was sent, here are some details.

James Coleridge, Canadian owner of the Bella Gelateria store in Vancouver, has been awarded both the public choice award and the technical award at the Firenze Gelato Festival 2012. The competition competes gelato masters from around the world in the art of hand-crafted gelato according to tradition.

Coleridge’s creation “Noce Pecan e Sciroppo d’Acero Canadese” (Pecan and Canadian Maple Syrup) was awarded first prize by the technical panel, as the best among the 30 master gelato makers. In addition, more than 200,000 visitors attended the Festival and were given the opportunity to vote for the best gelato. The people voted for Coleridge’s gelato and he was awarded with the “people’s choice award” in the competition in Florence, Italy from May 23 to 27.

The Canadian Coleridge, considered a Maestro Gelatiere, considers himself “a custodian of the old artisanal way of making handcrafted gelato preserving the technique from an old industrial world.” Coleridge originally learned the art at the Carpigiani Gelato University in Anzola dell’Emilia, Italy.

Bella Gelateria is located on the corner of Burrard and Cordova streets in Vancouver offering 30 flavours of hand-made gelato daily. In-store flavours change according to the weather and the season ranging from white truffle with black caviar, raspberry and beet sorbetto, or the famous 85 per cent dark chocolate gelato. Bella Gelateria offers more than eight different types of chocolate gelato daily.

Bella Gelateria is the first in North America to use classic gelato machinery advocating slow process and small artisanal batches. Every in-store item is made from scratch using local and in-season ingredients. Coleridge can be seen daily preparing the day’s fresh flavours at his store at 1001 West Cordova Street.

Dear James, as your friend and a loyal customer of Bella Gelateria I want to congratulate you on your award. You make us Vancouverites proud, very proud!