"The new food policies will really feed the planet". The challenge starts from Turin

"Food journalists? In reality they are political journalism. They deal with issues closely related to sociology and society. Experts of such a vast subject cannot be improvised: for this reason I hope one day to be able to create a degree course to train food journalists at the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo ". The Festival of Food Journalism starts with this promise by Carlin Petrini of Turin, which set itself precisely this objective: to understand and study how the world of food, from production to the table, from food and wine to food, from the economy to the "food policy", is communicated by the media.

"To communicate food, we need a holistic vision that involves more aspects and sectors of life," explained the president and inventor of Slow Food. With him on the stage, local authorities and institutions, national organizations and major Italian brands alternated. The Festival takes place on February 25 and 26 at the Cavallerizza in Turin, with meetings and debates, to then move, Saturday 27, around Piedmont with a series of educational tours dedicated to journalists.

But to capture the attention of the speakers at the inaugural conference, opened by the greetings of Elisabetta Barberis (University of Turin) and Alessandra Comazzi (Subalpine Press), were the themes of agricultural production and new food policies with the goal - taught us by Expo Milan - to feed the planet. It emerged that in Italy there is no clear regulatory framework and probably also a food culture "good, clean and fair" (as the Slow Food slogan says). And the role of information is crucial in this.

Carlin Petrini: "Food is one of the pillars of high politics"

"My friends tell me, Carlin - Petrini said - only you can think that a socialist like Bernie Sanders can win the American elections. What do I answer? That everyone, even Hillary Clinton, should instead consider a candidate who gets votes from young people among the 17 and 30 years thanks to a policy aimed at favoring small agricultural industries in the area. Sanders is one that supports the fight against multinationals and international treaties ". For the president of Slow Food, food policy today is in fact one of the strategic crossroads for interpreting the future, as highlighted by the slogan of Expo: "Energy for life".

Piero Fassino, president of Anci: "Food is culture, exchange, identity"

The mayor of Turin spoke about the Expo legacy. "Today we have the opportunity to measure ourselves against all the frontiers of life - said Fassino -. Eating well is no longer just an aspiration of the individual, but is now recognized by the Italians as a universal right: a greater sensitivity that has matured, on the one hand, by the pressure of events that are not always positive, such as the mad cow and the fish to mercury, on the other, by virtue of a higher average cultural level of society ". The enormous mass of people who visited Expo has brought great attention to food communication: "Turin - explained Fassino - is a city that is particularly attentive to this dimension because it is a land of great food traditions and Piedmont is the third agricultural region in Italy, helping to develop a major agri-food industry. We are among the precursors of a good food policy: here Slow Food was born, the Salone del Gusto and Terra Madre. Turin is the first Italian city to have introduced organic food in the canteens ".

Maria Caramelli, director of the experimental zooprophylactic institute Piedmont, Liguria and Valle d'Aosta: "Italy must continue to invest in food security"

"In the 2016 will start the" TTIP (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Treaty). And our country must not lower the bar, but continue to guarantee food policy on product safety and quality ". Maria Caramelli said this, according to which Italy has always had a great strength in responding to food crises: "Thanks to an organized system we have solved the global warnings of past years: from mad cow to avian flu and so on".

Antonella Pasquariello, representing large-scale retail trade and catering (Camst is a leader for school and hospital canteens): "Security is our daily vocation".

According to Antonella Pasquariello di Camst, the catering companies are made up of a very complex and articulated system. "We give quality and values ​​to our industrial process, but from the outside our image of a safe and efficient company is often not incorporated at 100%". This would happen because the customer does not coincide with the final consumer: the municipal administrations, for example, buy our services and then offer them to children in schools. "The complexity of the scenario is likely to create a short circuit. To avoid this it is necessary to find synergies and points of conjunction facilitated by good communication and information on food policy.

Marco Pedroni, top of the Coop: "Food journalism must be responsible"

"I don't feel like a representative of big productions - said Pedroni -, because Coop was born in Turin in the 80 years, becoming first of all a social organization, active in consumer education. People and families are changing much faster than institutions and companies and people want to live well and better ". We are the second country in Europe for childhood obesity: "It is not only a problem of quantity of information, but also of quality and certification - stressed Pedroni - We began to indicate the origin of the raw materials on our products two years ago. The 65% are Italian, but we must not be afraid of Canadian wheat but of the environmental impact of production processes ". Finally he added: "The biodiversity of Italian food must be fully defended. There is a desire to build something for their communities: as the apple producers in Trentino (70% exported around the world) have done, consortia must be created to become competitive on the international market ". 

Luigi Pelliccia, Head of Federalimentare Research Department: "In 2016 we are looking for competitiveness on the international market"

“There is a stagnant market situation - said Luigi Pelliccia - and no new exports are created by favoring food niches. In Italy we would be able to create national identities that become famous all over the world, such as coffee that has become a flag of Italianity despite not having internal raw materials ". Thanks to the USA in 2015, our country's exports reached 22% of turnover: a record, however far from the European average.

Fabrizio Galliati, president of Coldiretti Torino: "We believed in Expo"

According to Galliati, "The message of the Universal Exposition was there can be no good food if there is no good agriculture, but we must get out of the classic stereotypes of good and bad. We have examples of multinationals such as Philip Morris for the cultivation of tobacco that in Sicily is paying farmers adequately ”.

Clara Velez Fraga of the FAO: "Goal of the global agenda to overcome world hunger"

"The 2015 was a year of very important budgets for the global agenda - assured Velez Fraga of the FAO -. One hundred and fifty heads of state wondered what the global society can do here at 2030? The goal is 0 hunger because the hope is that hunger will become like measles that can be defeated ”.

Antonio Saitta, coordinator of the Health Commission of the State-Regions conference: "The buffalo is not just cheese"

"Journalists have an important role. We must not stop at what we read on social networks to learn about food safety - Saitta said -. I appeal to all the Regions to provide journalists with tools and documentation to help them in their work ".

Giuseppe Lavazza: "Food is above all economy"

Lavazza has compared the food market to that of cars. "Feeding is different than making cars. It gets into your skin. You have an immediate response from the consumer who drinks and eats what you are proposing - Lavazza said - The economic dimension of the food chain shifts the counterweights to a global level. An effort must be made towards a more sustainable supply chain, in which the output ceases to be a waste and is returned to the production system in a virtuous manner. "Small producers are the 95% of the community and therefore when we talk about the supply chain we are not talking about entrepreneurs, but of micro-economy". Lavazza left the public with two questions: "How is it possible that food is not the most important sector? Why is Italy not the international leader? "

After the conference the guests were invited to the canteen where they could try "how to eat in Italian schools". The food that will advance during the festival will be redistributed thanks to the “Fa bene” project managed by S-node to needy families from Barriera di Milano and corso Chieti.

with the collaboration of Federica Frola e Sabrina Colandrea (Futura)