Sept. 13 - "The dream has come true, in front of my wife, my sister, my dad… this is so special," says chef Luca Manfè from Aviano, in the province of Pordenone, who won "MasterChef U.S. 2013." Manfè made his dreams come true, and will now receive a check for $250,000 and publish his book of recipes. The chef was initially rejected for the third edition of the famous program, but he successfully made it among the 40 competitors of the fourth edition. The winner was announced – in the night between Wednesday and Thursday – by judge Gordon Ramsay. " Luca " shouted the famous Scottish chef in the filming studios of the most important cooking show. And Luca could hardly contain his joy, exclaiming “now I am America's MasterChef." The 31 year old has lived for the past ten years in New York, working in the catering business. Manfè won the final against Californian Natasha. Apart from Ramsay, who is known for having conducted similar programs like Hell's Kitchen, Kitchen Nightmare, and MasterChef, the judges were Joe Bastianich (known in Italy for his work alongside Bruno Barbieri and Carlo Cracco on the first two editions of MasterChef Italy) and the American Graham Elliott. Luca Manfè is the first and only Italian to have reached the final stages of the American culinary talent show, created by British filmmaker Franc Roddam and first broadcast by the BBC in 1990. After it was renovated in 2005, the talent show spread to many other countries and is now a real television phenomenon: in Italy, the last edition of the program secured a million viewers (every Thursday evening Sky One was the most watched channel platform, with a share reaching 4% peaks), dominated on social networks, created catchy phrases... This success has given a new "flavor" to our kitchen understanding in modern television. In the kitchen, Manfè won over the other contestants thanks to the Frico, a Friuli dish with poor origins, invented to recover the remains of the cheese, potatoes and butter. Now, Italy awaits to see its representative at work, when the fourth edition of MasterChef USA will air in the country starting October 2 at 21:10 on Sky HD.

COLDIRETTI: MANFÈ’S VICTORY BOOSTS MADE IN ITALY PRODUCTS

"The Italian victory at Masterchef U.S. increases the presence of made in Italy products on American tables, as shown by an increase in exports  by as much as 8.3% in testimony to the success of Italian cuisine in a difficult time." Coldiretti , expressing appreciation for Luca’s success, proved as much on the basis of ISTAT data for the first quarter of 2013. "If the trend will be maintained, Italian food exports to the United States could reach the historical record of €3 billion. And help - concludes Coldiretti - could also come from this well-known TV show that has crowned its first Italian chef. Rather telling is the fact that Luca won thanks to Frico, a typical Friuli dish with poor origins.”