Nutritionist, journalist and TV personality with the victory of Masterchef 2014, Federico Francesco Ferrero (FFF) has launched his "Piedmont capital of food" project creating a working group for this goal in a period in which the pandemic pushes too many to wait even with a little apathy.
Has the pandemic heightened interest in health in general? Does this wider interest also lead to a greater focus on food safety and health?
«Against a virus against which we have no weapons, nutrition becomes one of the few possibilities to take care of our body. But the current drift of science focuses on nutrients, while it should return, as did the studies on the Mediterranean diet, to consider the weekly eating style and the difference between the same whole or refined ingredients, organic or industrial, ripe or unripe ».
After the pandemic what could be the role of Turin and Piedmont in the Italian food scene? Which peculiarities should be valued more?
«Turin and Piedmont have a very high level tradition in medical research, in food chemistry at the University and in environmental sustainability and resource consumption with the Polytechnic. These excellences must be put into a system to study together a healthier, more sustainable and more flavorful food. And Piedmont can become a laboratory-region example of virtuous integration between research, production and food and wine ».
Can you explain the Turin-Piedmont World Food Capital project?
"Our intent is to create a control room for Piedmont that brings together all the players in the food supply chain, from industry to agriculture, from training to research, from culture to commerce, from crafts to catering, from trade to hospitality, and that promotes Piedmont as the World Food Capital, with the aim of enhancing the potential of the Piedmontese territory and transforming Piedmont into a real Food Valley, capable of attracting talents and retaining our best young ".
What will be the next steps of the project?
«This is the phase of collecting consensus and money to finance the mapping, federation, certification and promotion of our Piedmont excellence. We have activated a collection of signatures to ask that 10% of the resources that the Recovery Fund will assign to Piedmont be allocated to this project. Find all the details on www.ilfuturoeilfood.it "
