|
|
| |
The story
Slow Food founded the Ark of Taste in 1996 for the first Salone
del Gusto in Turin. A year later the project's objectives were
drawn up in the Ark of Taste Manifesto.
The idea of borrowing this Biblical metaphor and introducing
it to the world of food dates from 1996, when a handful of intellectuals
drafted the Ark's official Manifesto, in the midst of the Nebbiolo
and Barbera vineyards at Serralunga d’Alba, a winemaking
town in Piedmont.
The first list of products was compiled in an episodic, almost
random fashion. "As there is a long, stormy voyage ahead
of us,"wrote Carlo Petrini at the time, "there's a
certain amount of confusion about this floating edifice. Some
speak of selection criteria, some humbly bring a single cheese
that is especially dear, while others extend the discussion
to include the natural order itself, modified genes and their
depraved engineers".
In winter 1999, the newly created Scientific Ark Commission
for the Italian Ark identified the criteria for selection and
inclusion in the Slow Food Ark of Taste. With these criteria,
the work began, and the Italian Ark soon swelled to include
nearly 500 products. Commissions were set up in many other countries
and began to seek out and catalog new products. First off the
mark were the Americans and Germans, followed by the Swiss,
the Dutch, the French and others.
On October 26, 2002, all these experiences fused together at
the Salone del Gusto in the founding meeting for the International
Ark Commission.
At this meeting, the criteria for Slow Food Arks around the
world were approved, marking a new phase. The Ark of Taste is
ever more an international project, and a resource for agricultural
biodiversity around the world.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
