20th birthday

Food education: the alliance of Italian agribusiness is born at the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo

The appeal of the world's first university dedicated to gastronomy: 'Compulsory teaching of food education in all schools'. Celebrating 20 years of activity with 800 representatives of the most important Italian food companies

31 May 2024

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"The challenge of the coming years will be to overcome divisions, to work on sharing and cooperation. If we do not go beyond the logic of competitiveness, if we do not see the food sector as a common good, we will not be able to cope with this long period of transition. The necessary paradigm shift in our behaviour is the order of the day: either we take this path in harmony with nature and with each other, or the situation will become irreparable,' said Carlo Petrini, founder of Slow Food and president of the University of Gastronomic Sciences, at the opening of Pollenzo's 20th anniversary celebrations, in front of an audience of 800 people representing more than 300 realities of the Italian food industry, the main institutions in the area and 12 rectors of universities in Piedmont and the rest of the Peninsula.

The mission for the coming years

"To the students present here I say that the mission for the coming years is to have an open eye to the world, to other gastronomic cultures: we have made multidisciplinarity the value of this university, now we must take another step and overcome Eurocentrism. The ability of the gastronome is to understand the complexity of the world starting from food and this is the greatest joy that a university can give'.

The primacy

Founded in 2004 and promoted by the Slow Food association with the collaboration of the Piedmont and Emilia-Romagna regions, the University of Pollenzo was the first, and still the only, university in the world entirely dedicated to the study of food from the point of view of gastronomic sciences. And it is precisely in Pollenzo that gastronomic sciences have obtained academic dignity: in 2017, in fact, the Miur defined two new degree classes in Gastronomic Sciences based on the Unisg model. In 20 years, over 3800 gastronomes have graduated, 45% of them from 101 countries around the world. Carlo Petrini appealed to the most important realities of Italian agrifood production to spread the cultural and political potential that the food sector has, supporting the appeal Col cibo si educa, col cibo si cambia, with which Unisg and Slow Food Italia urge the government to include food education among the subjects of study in schools of all levels.

The approach

"The logic that must guide the food system can only be 'organic' in the etymological sense, i.e. centred on life. No development worthy of the name, in fact, today can be separated from an approach that makes it first and foremost sustainable, durable, harmonious. In antithesis to food as a 'commodity': produced to be sold, rather than to nourish the body and spirit; produced for the financial markets and subject to speculation; food that is wasted, at a global level, for a third of total production: here food education teaches us the culture of what is necessary to fight waste,' stressed Barbara Nappini, president of Slow Food Italy, promoter of the appeal together with Unisg, the Laudato si' Communities, the University of Turin, the University of Eastern Piedmont and the Polytechnic University of Turin.

Eating disorders

"And what can we say about the recent Italian data according to which two million people under the age of 16 suffer from eating disorders: it is urgent to rebuild a correct relationship with food and the land that produces it. With this in mind, I believe that food education in schools must be a collective project, a place to experiment with new forms of learning. A future that holds together technical data and traditional knowledge, global vision and appreciation of territorial diversity, lucid analysis and affective intelligence, scientific research and beauty'.

Training Course

Welcoming the academic world and some 500 alumni was the Magnificent Rector of the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo, Bartolomeo Biolatti. Supporter of the call for food education was also Maurizio Martina, assistant director general of the FAO, who in a video message emphasised how 'through food education we can develop an education not only in food but in citizenship. Knowing people through food means knowing their virtues and fragility, and in such a complicated geopolitical and environmental situation, thinking of investing in food as a tool for citizenship education is a revolutionary act'.

A New Welfare

"Food education can be a first step of a new welfare dedicated to the youngest: we have generations of children who are educated by influencers and live inside their mobile phones, without the possibility of being able to confront themselves with the community around them, with reality, with the stories and values behind food. And instead we need a new humanism to be able to stay within the limits of nature, otherwise no technology will be able to save us,' stressed Sveva Sagramola, author and TV presenter.

The School

Alessandro Barbero, professor of medieval history at the University of Eastern Piedmont, highlighted the role of the school institution: 'Schools are being asked to make another sacrifice, another effort, to introduce food education. So I think we should address this world starting from a premise, namely that schools are a very important, sacred piece, without which this country would have no future. A value that is never recognised enough, but which has the potential to work a miracle, to not only transmit content and a direction for one's professional future, but to open minds and make young people think'.
Underlining the need to include food education in schools are also two scientific speeches: for Carmine Garzia, professor of Business Economics at Unisg and scientific coordinator of the Food Industry Monitor, conscious consumers are able to generate a demand for quality, which in turn leads to a supply of quality; while for the climatologist and populariser of science, Luca Mercalli, in the 20 years of Pollenzo's existence, temperatures have risen and violent weather phenomena have become increasingly frequent, in a climate race that is changing too much and too fast for humans to adapt. Among the more than 300 companies were representatives from the world of agri-food production, retail, and agricultural trade associations.

The merit

"In its specific field, i.e. the Gastronomic Sciences, Unisg, in the past 20 years, after being the first in the world, has really improved this world. If today there are minds and hearts, in different parts of the Planet, working for a new and better balance between nature and technology, we also owe it to our University. Thank you Unisg,' recalled Oscar Farinetti, founder of Eataly and president of the Friends of Unisg Association.

Coldiretti

"Coldiretti has long been present in schools with its farmers to promote food education and the importance of educating the new generations to understand the true value of food. An important work carried out by our educational farms. This is why we can only support Slow Food Italia and Unisg's appeal to ensure that, especially children, begin immediately on a path of approach to food that goes from the story of agricultural production to its social and economic aspects. Without forgetting the knowledge and appreciation of the Mediterranean diet, a model of sustainable and healthy eating that embodies all the values of distinctiveness and traditions that reflect our history. This is the only way we can best raise the citizens/consumers of tomorrow, with special attention to what they eat and their health,' highlighted Ettore Prandini, President of Coldiretti.

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