The “Ark of Taste” is a project aimed at documenting endangered food products and local practices that belong to the culture, history and traditions of the entire world. The main objective of the program is to safeguard and promote local products and the biocultural heritage linked to them.
SCIENTIFIC MANAGER: Dauro Mattia Zocchi
OTHER UNISG RESEARCHERS INVOLVED: Andrea Pieroni, Michele Fontefrancesco, Gabriele Volpato
PARTNERSHIP: Slow Food International, Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity
WEBSITE: https://www.fondazioneslowfood.com/it/cosa-facciamo/arca-del-gusto/
Description
This project focuses its attention on the documentation, safeguarding and valorization of food, culinary, and bio cultural diversity in different areas of the world. Its main objective is to study foods and food products that have strong connections with the culture, history and traditions of a specific area, in which production and consumption are substantially decreasing. Said foods are therefore very likely to disappear from the local gastronomic and agri-food heritage.
Started in 1996 by the Slow Food movement, nowadays the program is a collection of 5000 products distributed in more than 150 countries throughout the world. The recent partnership with University of Gastronomic Sciences of Pollenzo gave new impetus to the Ark of Taste, as it increased reports from all around the world and developed strategies to promote, disseminate and value its achievements, including releasing atlases of the gastronomic heritage safeguarded through this project. The aim of this initiative is to give visibility to Ark of Taste at local level, presenting the catalogued products, raising awareness about the heritage loss, and promoting a responsible and sustainable consumption
The project directly involves students of the University of Gastronomic Sciences both in the food scouting activities, mainly during the “Study trips”, and in the design of tools aimed at improving the visibility of the project and its achievements.
Publications
Báez Vera , P. J., Malda Barrera, G., e Zocchi, D. M. (A cura di) (2018). “El Arca del Gusto en México: Productos, saberes e historias del patrimonio gastronómico”. Bra: Slow Food Editore.
Barstow, C., & Zocchi, D. M. (A cura di) (2018). “The Ark of Taste in Kenya. Food, Knowledge and, Story of the Gastronomic Heritage”. Bra: Slow Food Editore.
Morett Figueiredo Rosa, B., Ferreira Oliveira, C.M., Silva Dos Santos, D., e Zocchi, D.M. (a cura di) (2017). “A Arca do Gosto no Brasil. Alimentos, conhecimentos e histórias do patrimônio gastronômico”, Bra: Slow Food Editore.
Zocchi, D.M. (a cura di) (2017). “El Arca del gusto en Perú. Productos, saberes e historias del patrimonio gastronómico”. Bra: Slow Food Editore.
Fontefrancesco, M.F., Zocchi, D.M. (2019). Narrazioni e prodotti nella patrimonializzazione della gastronomia locale: una nota metodologica. Narrare i Gruppi, 14(2), 273-285.
Daneri, D., Zocchi, D.M., Rumiz, M., Barstow, C., & Rasku, E. (2020). The Ark of Taste in Albania. Food, Knowledge, and Stories of Gastronomic Heritage. Bra: Slow Food Editore.
Zocchi, D.M., Fontefrancesco, M.F. ( A cura di) (2021)“The Ark of Taste in Tanzania. Food, Knowledge, and Stories of the Gastronomic heritage”. Pollenzo: Università degli Studi di Scienze Gastronomiche.
Kalle, R. (2021). Eesti Maitselaegas. Toit, Teadmised ja Lood Gastronoomilisest Pärandist. Bra: University of Gastronomic Sciences.
Slow Food Nederland (2021). De Ark van de Smaak in Nederland: Voedsel, kennis en verhalen over gastronomisch erfgoed. Zutphen: Walburg Pers.
Fontefrancesco, M.F., Zocchi, D.M., Pieroni, A. (2022). Scouting for Food Heritage for Achieving Sustainable Development: The Methodological Approach of the Atlas of the Ark of Taste. Heritage 2022, 5, 526-544. https://doi.org/10.3390/
Цоккі, Д. М., Мотузенко, О., Стрямець, Н., Фонтефранческо М.Ф., Соуканд, Р., П’єроні, A. (2022). Ковчег смаку в Україні: їжа, знання та історії гастрономічної спадщини. Бра: Авторське право (Zocchi, D.M., Motuzenko, O, Stryamets, N., Fontefrancesco, M.F., Sõukand, R., & Pieroni, A. (2022). The Ark of Taste in Ukraine: Food, Knowledge, and Stories of Gastronomic Heritage. Bra: University of Gastronomic Sciences).
