Keep interest in the world of Catering and deepen current issues such as digitization and sustainability. Telling stories of chefs and restaurateurs thanks to which gastronomy becomes a cultural and identity factor for our country. These are the objectives that, in recent months, it has set itself Eleanor Cozzella, food critic, sommelier and one of the leading gastronomic brands in Republic e now of the new editorial product of the Gedi Group The taste.
How did you deal with this pandemic and the consequent great difficulty in the restaurant sector with Repubblica and any other collaborations? Have you in any way changed your usual narrative? Have you made any particular initiatives to tell about this period?
“The pandemic has clearly changed everything. Travel has stopped, as a result, those who do my job have tried fewer new dishes, met fewer people, known fewer new realities, in short, they have had an unprecedented experience of time. All the work has become remote within a context of great difficulty for the world of catering and food and wine.
So we had to shift the narrative focus from the dimension of pleasure, of taste, of the restaurant experience in its various forms, to the story of the forms of resistance in the sector. Therefore, from delivery to the commitment of many in solidarity activities, from the construction of lines for e-commerce to social activities to maintain a network of relationships, a community.
Then, of course, we gave a lot of space to the private dimension of the kitchen that the first lockdown brought to the fore, with the rediscovery of the pleasure of making bread, of kneading, in general of being in the kitchen with the family. And of sharing these old-new found knowledge, re-experiencing them.
Finally, obviously the story of the critical phase through interviews with great chefs to keep interest high in this world (and therefore on the need for refreshments) which alas in Italy does not have political recognition as, for example, occurs in France.
And the work I tried to do for Sapori di Repubblica but also for the various contents of the newspaper, from the one on newsstands to the deGusto newsletter and the Questioni di Gusto podcast ».
From your point of view as a journalist in the sector, how have food and catering companies (food companies, but also chefs, restaurants etc) changed communication in this period? Are there any initiatives that have particularly struck you and that you wanted to highlight?
“There has been, at least for many months, a breakdown in the communication we were used to. Then, I would say that a communication prevailed that in recounting the experiences of resistance has focused a lot of attention on the community, however virtual, on the sense of belonging and sharing of values. The commitment to build or maintain a relationship with customers has been noted. From large companies to individual chefs, there has been a great deal of work, in particular on social networks, to create aggregating moments, experiences towards the different shareholders: towards journalists and communication in general through the multiplication of webinars to allow continue to tell activities and stories and maybe even have the products tasted by sending them home; towards customers by exploiting social media to bring out the passion, the desire for resistance, the ability of chefs to tell stories about food in particular ».
How did your readers react? Have you noticed a greater sensitivity to certain issues related to the world of food? In your opinion, has there been an increase in attention to this sector?
«At a time when the world of catering has practically entered a state of hibernation, the interest both in the stories of the chefs and in home cooking have acquired a great deal of interest. So in reality, in terms of readers' attention to our contents, it has absolutely not failed, probably precisely because of this ability to change focus. In the emails I receive, for example, I noticed appreciation for the choice to look at gastronomy from another point of view, especially when I emphasized its value not only in economic terms (agri-food remains the driving sector of our country), but also in terms of identity. and cultural ".
After the pandemic, and when we can finally talk about a restart, how do you think communication in the food sector will change? Which channels should be privileged and which do you think have had their day?
«I believe that focusing on new issues will be increasingly important, which are, in addition to e-commerce and digitization in general, those of sustainability and circularity. There is a very high vigilance on ecological issues, especially among the new generations. And the restaurant world is taking charge of it, setting an example, with many initiatives and above all with virtuous behavior. Sustainability of production in environmental, economic and social terms. And therefore a full coverage of the supply chain in each step and in its various components. And this is a new thread of story that fascinates me and that I have tried to explore in particular with the new portal Green & Blue of the Gedi group present on the websites of Repubblica, La Stampa, Il Secolo and all the other newspapers of the group, where I am giving voice to the “green” experiences of Italian and international chefs ».
Do you have any future projects in the pipeline that you want to anticipate linked to your journalistic collaborations or, more generally, to your professional life?
«I am thrilled with the new project The taste of the Gedi group dedicated to the world of food online and on newsstands since April, on the model already followed with Green & Blue, Health and Fashion. The manager is Luca Ferrua and it is a wonderful novelty for the world of food and wine as it brings together all the skills of a large and highly professional publishing group. In short, I am proud to be part of it and to be able to continue to tell the world of catering in particular.
Then as regards my inclinations and specializations, the story around pasta will remain one of my favorite professional focuses: I have an idea in the drawer that is about to come true but it is premature to talk about it. After the two books, Pasta REvolution and La Carbonara Perfetta, I have just signed the historical consultancy for a docufilm on Carbonara on the occasion of the Carbonara day which took place on 6 April. Among the other novelties, I will have the great pleasure of sharing my experiences in the world of gastronomy with a series of lessons to practitioners of the Luiss School of Journalism, a University where I also trained as a journalist ».
