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Island of Taste and Cuisines: the tasting areas
Today we are rediscovering that eating is an act of social responsibility. When the consumer decides to eat a food product, the choice has repercussions on the entire productive process, on the market and on the environment. In reality, the cooking associated with a region has always been an expression of this idea.
This is what the catering at the Salone del Gusto will seek to do: to restore to local areas their gastronomic traditions with the products and dishes that convey them the best.
So while hopping between Islands of Taste and Cuisines – the refreshment areas dedicated to the regions and territories in Pavilions 2 and 3 – the visitor to the Salone del Gusto will be able to take a priceless, unforgettable culinary journey.
Take Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia, for example. Two regions where the sea and the mountains converge, a fact that shows in the traditional cooking. Diverse habitats that treat us to a variety of products: cheeses (Asiago for the one and Montasio for the other, for instance), cured meats (prosciutto veneto and San Daniele), fish (moléca from the Venetian lagoon and scampi in bufera).
As for the Slow Food Presidia, the guardians of ancient knowledge and traditions, Tuscany is packed with them, as is Campania. One stop on your journey has to be dedicated to these regions, to discovering that Tuscany is not just chianina beef and that Campania has more than buffalo mozzarella to offer.
Have you ever tried the Lake Trasimeno bean? Or the Ozieri copuleta from Sardinia? And what about the tastings of the Ligurian sea and hinterland? On your gastronomic journey you can discover the provinces of Lazio and their traditional street food to eat with your hands. Or the breads, the extra-virgin olive oils and the vegetables of Puglia, ‘raw materials’ that are the envy of the world. Be sure to stop off too in Emilia Romagna, one of the regions with the most PDOs in the Italian peninsula: Parma ham, Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and Zibello culatello are world-famous names, the pride and joy of a region that has much else to offer besides. Like the 17 pearls of the province of Ferrara, first and foremost coppia ferrarese (a kind of bread), the Comacchio eel and salama da sugo. To which the province of Biella responds with its lamb, the beef of the Oropa red-spotted cow, goat’s milk cheeses and canestrelli biellesi. The province of Alessandria, on the other hand, offers Monferrato, barbera and agnolotti.
And, naturally enough, only the very finest wines will accompany you on your journey.
If you don’t wish to stay confined within the national borders, this year as never before you can leave Pavilion 1 and Italy to seek out unique experiences.
For the first time, supported by a Piedmont Regional Authority training and development project, Romania comes to the Salone del Gusto with a Kitchen that offers the country’s fine cured meats (Sibiu, Haiducesc brisket, shin of beef from Transylvania and thin sausages) and traditional cheeses such as Brânza de Burduf (Slow Food Presidium). To go with the foods there will be a selection of wines from Romanian cellars, which the producers are trying hard to make internationally known.
Norway returns to Italy after its resounding success at Slow Fish 2005. This year it presents a marvelous stockfish cooked in a variety of ways, from the simplest to the most sophisticated.
And then there is Japan: the Sushi-Iwa restaurant chain, world famous for its traditional method of preparing sushi, is a now a fixture at the Salone del Gusto. In 2006, for the first time, the sushi area will also become the ‘home’ of Slow Food Japan, where Japanese chefs will compete with each other making soba, a dish dating from the sixteenth century, rice prepared in the most wonderful ways and small traditional sweets. You can accompany the Japanese dishes with tea or sakè, or opt for what has become the perfect traveling companion for sushi: the exceptional white wines of Friuli, which were brought together in the SuperWhites project in order to promote them in Italy and worldwide.
All that remains to do is to visit the Kitchen dedicated to the chefs of Terra Madre and to wind up your culinary journey in the sweetest way possible, with bread and chocolate. The Maître Chocolatiers of Lindt & Sprüngli will be delighted to treat you to a selection of their great chocolates, served with a variety of international breads.
Are you ready to go?
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