The Slow Food 2020 principals: a review

The year of the pandemic saw the entry of eight new national Slow Food presidents on the list that collects foods and dietary practices to be preserved, valued and disseminated to the public, to protect biodiversity — both cultural and related to the wealth of animal and plant species by which we are surrounded.
Slow Food means sustainability, foresight in considering the importance of a varied and balanced diet for our well-being: it means defending endangered specialties from the approval to which the market is subject, also through education and the increase of consumer awareness.

The Slow Food Association's programmatic lines for 2021-2025 aim to highlight the importance of having access to “good, clean and fair” food, which does not arise from the indiscriminate exploitation of the earth and its resources but from respect for the rhythms of Mother Nature, moving away from waste and the “fast life” promoted by consumerism.

The symbols of this battle: the Slow Food 2020 presidents

The symbolic products of the principles listed above are precisely the Slow Food garrisons, more than 350 in total in the Italian territory alone: among them we find the “youngest”, recently included in the list that brings them together (constantly updated

).

Slow Food 2020 Presidia - Campania

An ecotype from Campania, the Gorga bean is a legume that is said to have liked the queen of Habsburg Maria Carolina, sovereign of Naples who would have praised its sweetness. Small, candid, the bean we are talking about has a delicate flavor and excellent digestibility, it is quick to cook and already included in a typical recipe, that of “ciccimmaretati” (it is a soup prepared in Cilento with different legumes: this dish even has its festival in the month of

August!).

Without moving to another region, we always find in Campania the Slow Food Presidium of Pecorino di Carmasciano, obtained from the milk of two different species of sheep, the Laticauda and the Bagnolese: we are in a small pasture area in the Ansano Valley, characterized by a peculiar presence of sulfur fumes. It is precisely the sulfur that flavors the milk from which then, with an optimal aging of 12 months, this delicious pecorino cheese is obtained, produced from February to

July.

Finally, the Airola onion is always from Campania, picked by hand and intended to delicately flavor salads or to make

a characteristic sauce for pasta.

Slow Food 2020 Presidia — Emilia Romagna

Although they correspond to a single entry in the list of 2020 principals, the ancient Reggio Emilia melons are in reality an entire category of cucurbits that include roasted melons such as the ramparino, smooth melons such as the toad and winter melons such as the Santa Vittoria banana melon, which cannot be found in the GDO and are unsuitable for storage on the shelf for long periods. Along with them, among the last Romagnoli garrisons on the list, we also find hollow-hole fishing, also known as “Massa Lombarda fishing”, which is harvested from mid-August to mid-September

.

Slow Food 2020 Presidiums — Lombardy, Lazio, Umbria

In addition to the Airola onion, the list of Slow Food principals also includes the Breme red onion, an enormous and very sweet variety actually cultivated in Piedmont: cultivated by the Benedictine monks of Lower Lomellina, it is used raw or cooked, to also obtain compotes, jams and mustards

.

Moving to Tivoli, on the other hand, we find the horned grape, which has characterized the Tiburtine landscape since Roman times; the garrison of the Pizzutello grape also includes the techniques for growing this variety, linked to the typical system of pergolas with wooden poles, which over time have been replaced by iron and concrete structures that are much less compatible with both plants and

the landscape.

Finally, the last garrison we will talk about is of Umbrian origin: it is Vanerina buckwheat, naturally gluten-free and cultivated by only

three producers.