Massimiliano Borgia is the director of the Food Journalism Festival. Professional journalist, specialized in food and environment, the director is already working to prepare the sixth edition of the Festival already scheduled for 25, 26 and 27 February 2021.
«The Festival - notes Borgia - is now an appointment of national importance, unique in its kind also in the world panorama of events on information and journalism. An event that combines the internal debate between journalists and the other professions of communication with the comparison between the world of information and the scientific world. In the background there is always the right of citizens to be informed correctly in order to make their life and consumption choices in a truly conscious way. The themes of the Festival mainly concern correct nutrition, the fight against fake food news, investigative journalism in the food supply chain, sustainability, the fight against agromafia and the economic information linked to the food sector. All issues that, with the pandemic, have still grown of interest. Citizens have been concerned to find out from certain sources about health, scientific research, economic evolution, and political choices related to the complex world of food. For this we think that the Festival should take place in any case, even if the Coronavirus emergency reoccurs».
In what form would a festival take place which, for six years, has been above all an occasion for physical encounters between people? And how do you think an edition would be accepted in this moment of uncertainty where there is a fear of health and an economic crisis whose possible effects are not yet clear?
«In the meantime, we hope, like everyone else, that the pandemic will gradually subside and that, since autumn, it will only be a tragic memory. In this first case, there would be a great return of events, which have been blocked for spring. If the health situation were to normalize and if we had the feeling of being able to return to life and work protected by a health system equipped and ready to face a new emergency, there will be a social but also an economic need to find ourselves in physical events. Fairs, exhibitions, conferences, all events that companies, institutions, bodies, associations will have to resume attending. Especially in the world of food, if you don't show, touch, taste it is difficult to sell. In short, if there will be security there will also be a desire to leave and meet. At the end of February, the period of the Festival, however, it will already be possible to draw up a provisional balance for the restart. Above all it will be the the right time to exchange experiences on the first months of an attempt to return to normal, on how both the pandemic and the return to production have been addressed. Above all it will be the right time to talk about mistakes not to be repeated, the great lesson to be learned from this blow. And then, it will be time to explain how the future is seen and to photograph the new world that came out of the Coronavirus. In short, it will be the right moment to make a festival like this ».
But something will change in the organization of the Festival ...
“In any case, there is no going back completely from webinars. Surely we will have moments to live online, in connection with the speakers' offices, editorial offices and companies. If then, in winter, we had to grasp, once again, a great concern and a widespread unwillingness to participate in crowded events (which, so far, has been the beauty of the Festival), then we would propose the contents online, perhaps with a completely innovative format compared to the webinars we have immersed ourselves in these months. But, I repeat, even if there should be fear of shaking hands, of assisting with the panels, of having group experiences, there will be a great desire to listen, discuss, train to face the future. The Festival will therefore be a necessary tool ».
Can this future already be outlined for food information?
«Meanwhile, let's start from the present. The pandemic forced restaurants to gear up for delivery and take away. Ordering dinner from home and having it brought by a driver was already a habit for students, singles, couples overwhelmed by work. Now food delivery has definitely entered our habits and will never go away. Even the delivery of groceries at home is a way of getting used to which we have become accustomed: not only more buying groups or elderly people, shopping at home has also become a convenience for families. So in summary, restaurants (and all the other food delivery businesses), cocktail bars, grocery stores, convenience stores, farms are seeing online sales grow. This means that the website becomes even more central for a food-related activity: not only a simpler showcase but a real sales tool in e-commerce. But a website cannot only contain a catalog or a menu. A website needs to be indexed by search engines, it needs to get noticed and to always keep a direct line with customers. For this, there are social channels connected to the site or that act as a shoulder to site communication ».
So an increasing number of small food businesses are discovering the communication functions of the web, but what does this mean for food information?
"It means the sites of the food companies will need a management that is curious and attract users, they will therefore need content. Here comes the freelance journalist. This is a figure who can play the role of brand journalist, a specialization that, in the Anglo-Saxon world, is already taking off. This means new job opportunities as micro press offices for many communication professionals. But I think that. In addition to that of companies, the world of media is also changing ».
How?
«There was a signal whose importance was not understood by everyone. The Agnelli-Elkann family that invests again in quality information by taking over the Gedi Group with a lot of Press, Repubblica, Espresso and Radio Capital and an avalanche of local newspapers, means that the great entrepreneurs foresee a new future for information and consider it profitable. The pandemic confirmed it: for the first time and when we could have seemed more vulnerable there was a real its own turn towards fake news and an unexpected injection of trust towards journalism. In a crisis it is vital to truly understand how things really are and to equip yourself to face it. For this reason, subscriptions to online newspapers and attendance of in-depth webinar events have increased. It is true that we had a lot of free time, but we spent this anguished time reading reliable news and trying to understand. If in a queue at the supermarket I happened to see an explanation of a pensioner on how a virus works with others who added details of a certain scientific basis, it is because perhaps something will remain of the desire for serious and verified news and documentation. Furthermore, the interest in health, which was already very high among readers, has literally exploded today, as well as the interest in proper nutrition and food culture. This bodes well for a greater presence of these issues in the media ".
