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Manifesto
To protect the small purveyors of fine food from the deluge
of industrial standardization; to ensure the survival of endangered
animal breeds, cheeses, cold cuts, edible herbs - both spontaneous
and cultivated - cereals and fruit; to promulgate taste education;
to make a stand against obsessive worrying about hygienic matters,
which kills the specific character of many kinds of production;
to protect the right to pleasure.
As spokesmen for culture, the food and wine industry, scientific
research, journalism, politics and the institutions, we hope
to persuade like-minded people to join us in the pursuit of
these objectives. By way of a response to the alarm raised by
Slow Food, we are launching:
An Ark of Taste to Save the Universe of
Flavors
The Ark of Taste is the result of an idea conceived by Slow
Food. Today, thanks to support from representatives of the world
of culture, scientific research, the food and wine industry,
journalism and politics, this idea has turned into a project
aimed at safeguarding and promoting small-scale fine food purveyors
who are threatened by extinction. The project embraces both
the scientific and the promotional sides of the issue.
From
the scientific viewpoint we undertake to:
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define
methods and criteria for research - in particular, outlining
the very notion of gastronomic asset, typicality, tradition
and endangered products |
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provide
an ethno-botanical and historical characterization of
cultivars, local breeds and products as a measure for
the recognition of what is typical and/or traditional |
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promote scientific training of experts in the field at
a national level |
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set
up a networked data bank managed by a central body for
collecting the data progressively obtained on cultivars,
breeds, products, research, recipes, producers, restaurants
and so on |
From
a promotional viewpoint we undertake to:
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draw
up and circulate a list of endangered products - known
by the public at large and steeped in symbolic value -
so that the struggle to defend them becomes as encompassing
as possible |
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analyze
these products from an organoleptic viewpoint, providing
the names and addresses of the remaining producers, and
advertise them through the mass-media and specialist publications
so that the concept of protection goes hand in hand with
that of economic return |
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invite
consumers to purchase and eat these products, convinced
as we are that extinction can be avoided only if they
are fully reintroduced into the commercial/food circuit |
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identify within each region a series of inns or taverns
- to be awarded special recognition - that will become
active regional promoters of the Ark products, using them
on a daily basis in the preparation of their dishes |
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invite
major restaurants to select a specific Ark product as
their "pet product", protecting and introducing it in
certain dishes |
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launch
a campaign throughout Italy so that each municipality
"adopts" an endangered product, thus promoting its production
and consumption |
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implement in the near future a pilot project on a regional
or sub-regional scale with a view to verifying and adjusting
methods, schedules and procedures for the realization
of the overall project |
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promote
projects aimed at teaching taste to young people right
from school age, with a view to developing people's organoleptic
faculties so that they can recognize quality products
and draw the utmost pleasure from them |
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national institutions into considering the safeguarding
of these products - gastronomic assets in general, and
not just those in danger - as a major goal for the economy
and integral part of Italy's cultural identity |
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associate
with similar projects throughout Europe, convinced as
we are that protecting typical and/or traditional quality
food and agricultural products must become a transnational
operation, given the fact that markets and strategies
are growing increasingly globalized and standardized. |
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