Italian cusine in the World week

Created to promote quality Italian food and wine abroad, the Week of Italian Cuisine in the World sees over 1000 activities - including seminars and conferences, meetings with chefs, cooking classes, tastings, moments of in-depth study, concerts and photographic exhibitions - scheduled in 300 diplomatic-consular offices and Italian Institutes of Culture around the world.

 

"I want to thank the Government, the Ministries and the bodies involved for having created, for four years now, this important initiative to promote the image of our country, based on the cultural, culinary and landscape heritage for which Italy is known throughout the world. Unione Italiana Vini has always supported and encouraged this approach, because food and wine is a powerful tourist magnet, able to influence the choice of travel destinations, as shown by the growth of food and wine tourism by 45% from 2017 to 2018. For this reason it is essential that our country implements a national strategic plan on the policies of food and wine tourism and that initiatives to promote abroad, such as the Italian Cuisine Week in the world, are followed up in Italy through incoming actions, the most effective of the promotional tools. With these words Ernesto Abbona, President of Unione Italiana Vini, spoke this morning at the presentation of the Fourth Week of Italian Cuisine in the World, held in the Officine Farneto space in Rome, in the presence of Teresa Bellanova, Minister for Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies; Manlio Di Stefano, Undersecretary of State for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation; Vincenzo de Luca, Director General for the Promotion of the MAECI Country System; Luigi Pio Scordamaglia, Board Member of the ICE Agency and President of Filiera Italia; and other experts from the world of food&wine.

 

"Internationalisation - continues the president of UIV - is not an option for Italian wine, but a must. Almost half of the wine produced in Italy is sold outside the national borders, where consumption is increasing, especially in North America and Asia: for this reason we need to increase the value of our products and we must strengthen and transform into structural plans the initiatives of institutional promotion such as "The Week of Italian Cuisine in the world" and the "Extraordinary Plan of Made in Italy", complementary to the initiatives of internationalization of individual companies. Wine has always been a pioneer in the penetration of international markets, able to drive other agri-food products and, dreaming big, we could imagine enriching, as early as 2020, the Italian Cuisine Week, with the day of Italian wine in the world.

 

There are many themes at the heart of the event, including the protection of products with protected and controlled names, the fight against the phenomenon of Italian sounding, the enhancement of Italian wines and their territories, regional food and wine and tourist itineraries and the importance of the Mediterranean Diet as a healthy lifestyle and balanced diet model.

 

"The wine - continues Ernesto Abbona - is an integral part of the Mediterranean Diet, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. UIV has always been committed to promoting responsible drinking education: for this reason, our heartfelt appeal to the institutions is to defend it in all European and international fora as an essential component of our table. Wine must be considered as a food as well as oil, cheese, pasta, bread, in line with the Mediterranean model. A cultural model and tradition that we must promote abroad, but also protect and pass on to our young people, who currently account for only 19% of wine consumers, so that they can get closer to regular consumption during meals, feel an integral part of this history and, in turn, learn to develop it in all respects, not least that of its economic dimension. Our gastronomic products - concludes the president Ernesto Abbona - are the result of a deep-rooted identity and the symbol of a culture that should not be dispersed, but valued in every place, bearing in mind also the economic and employment of the Italian food and wine sector.

 

The project of the Italian Cuisine in the World Week, conceived and coordinated by the Directorate General for the Promotion of the Country System of the Farnesina, has been developed within a working group involving the Ministry of Economic Development, the Ministry of Forestry Agricultural Food Policies, the Ministry of Education, University and Research and the Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism, as well as all the main bodies, associations and institutions representing Italian cuisine and Italy in the world: Regions, ICE Agency, ENIT Agency, universities, chamber system, trade associations, cooking schools, networks of certified Italian restaurants and operators in the food and wine sector.