Since its inception six years ago, The Gazzetta del Gusto, Of which Enzo Meeting is founder and director, has focused above all on agri-food niches. During the pandemic, the precise choice was to focus on distracting topics, on the story of people and territories, on recipes and the history of food to keep readers company and relieve tension. Last November the first course of food and wine communication of which the second edition is already in preparation. The future of communication? An ever greater approach to the realities you want to tell, to arrive at a more effective storytelling built through experience and emotion: essential for knowledge and subsequent narration, especially in the food and wine sector.
How did you deal with this pandemic and the consequent great difficulty in the restaurant sector with La Gazzetta del Gusto? Have you in any way changed your usual narrative? Have you made any particular initiatives to tell about this period?
"The pandemic hasn't changed our work much, The Gazzetta del Gusto he continued to inform and entertain. Surely, with the restaurants closed and no event in attendance to comment on, it was more difficult to identify original content that was not focused only on Covid-19. We have written about some delivery initiatives or online events but, as director, it seemed right not to linger on these aspects because we would not be able to write about all the realities. I also preferred to avoid the "medical bulletins" or to divulge any press release from trade associations that criticized the Government's initiatives; while considering everyone's reasons to be important, there are news organizations that do it in a more complete and detailed way than we would have been able to do. Instead, we focused on topics that were distracting, on the story of people and territories, on recipes and the history of food to keep readers company and relieve tension. In addition, in November we held ours with great success first course of food and wine communication of which we are preparing the second edition. ».
From your point of view as a journalist in the sector, how have food and catering companies changed communication in this period? Are there any initiatives that have particularly impressed you and that you wanted to highlight?
“If we exclude online and social dating, I haven't seen a big change in how we communicate. Surely there has been a reduction in investments in this sense, but large companies have continued to make themselves felt, together with some small companies that have realized how appropriate it is to remain visible in these dark moments to reap the benefits later. Honestly, I noticed few original ideas and the events at a distance represented, rather, a necessity that the public began to show disaffection with, perhaps for the need to return to a normal life. However, there have been interesting initiatives by some wineries or Consortia (such as the IMT Institute of the Marches for the protection of wines) which sent the wines to journalists' homes to involve them in online tastings. I found it an effective method of involvement, during which opportunities for discussion were created to ask questions and express opinions on a concrete basis. "
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?
«The Gazzetta del Gusto it has a hard core of loyal readers who, fortunately, did not fade during the pandemic, rather they increased. Probably our strength is to address many different topics, obviously always concerning the world of food and wine. On April 25th the newspaper turned 6 years old and, from the beginning, we chose not only to tell the big events, big companies or starred restaurants but we go in search of stories and characters that are little known but who have passion and this immediately rewarded. People are intrigued by the small family artisan bakery or by the niche cellar that favors the quality of its wines rather than focusing on large volumes, by the chef who cooks at customers' homes with a personalized proposal or by the consultant who helps restaurants to function. better. They are important examples for those who dream of doing this job. "
After the pandemic, and when we can finally talk about a restart, how will communication in the food sector change? Which channels should be privileged and which will have had their day?
"I don't know if food and wine communication will change, communication as a whole had already changed before Covid-19. Surely it will have to be increasingly integrated and based on all the tools available today, from the traditional ones to the digital universe, which is increasingly complex, but one is no less important than the other. Alongside the competence of those who deal with certain topics, unfortunately not always present, social media, the web, digital marketing are fundamental but one cannot ignore the authority of the "news", public relations, print media and people. Especially in a sector such as food and wine and travel, experience and emotion are essential for knowledge and subsequent narration. On the side of the press officers, it is no longer possible to propose the usual way of disseminating, with insistence, impersonal and massive communications, "with a prayer of kind publication". Newspapers are expected to work to give visibility to companies without any contact with those realities and, instead, journalists and bloggers must be actively involved and, if necessary, conducted on site to experience what they are called to write about: only in this way will they be able to make a reliable storytelling, for an audience that perceives the authenticity and quality of the content. I add that, for those who write on the web, the content is also fundamental for search engines that require quality and originality; we cannot ignore it ».
Do you have any future projects in the pipeline that you want to anticipate related to the Gazzetta del Gusto or, more generally, to your professional life?
«In our group, ideas and dreams are not lacking and some have become concrete projects. Among these, there is "A future as a Chef - Brigades of the heart", A social project launched in 2019 to create training, inclusion and autonomy opportunities for people with intellectual disabilities (Down Syndrome and Autism, but not only). After 4 events in the kitchen, cafeteria and bartending, the pandemic has blocked us but for a few weeks we have already been working on new events that will be really interesting. We will also launch, on Instagram, the first "Social series”In comics with characters that have the appearance of anthropomorphized agri-food products. Their stories will serve to tell, in a funny way, the typical Italian products and sometimes also to point out important issues of the agri-food sector. They will also be the protagonists of a "Capsule collection"Signed by The Gazzetta del Gusto with a limited production line of clothing and home accessories. These innovations add to my work as a journalist and press officer in the agency DoubleFourth which deals with integrated communication to give visibility to small and medium-sized Food & Wine companies with traditional and digital marketing tools ».
