Slow Food Great China and Ice-Agenzia chose Master of Food to promote gastronomic culture through the example of Italian excellence

A program of events and tastings of the finest Italian food and wine to reflect on the importance and significance of using sustainable ingredients.

The project launched in the summer of 2019 by Slow Food Great China in collaboration with Ice-Agenzia (Agency for the overseas promotion and internationalization of Italian enterprises) and the University of Gastronomic Sciences is now coming to an end. Organized in the most important vocational training centers and graduate study institutes in the Chinese food sector, it has consisted of a series of courses based on the Master of Food model created by Slow Food about 30 years ago to train thousands of people on subjects of good, clean and fair eno-gastronomy.

The project has attracted a huge amount of interest from the Chinese public, demonstrating once more how China is increasingly open to sharing the best of the western experience. A few facts and figures: the project has involved over one million three hundred thousand people on WeChat (the famous Chinese messaging and e-commerce app), has culled twenty nine million followers on Weibo Food (one of the most popular Chinese microblogging sites) and received more than fifty million views on Yizhibo (a live streaming app).

The six Master of Food courses have focused on:
–       Fresh pasta
–       Pizza, from its origins in Naples to new tendencies
–       Extra virgin olive oil
–       The regional food of Sicily
–       The regional food of Lazio
–       The regional food of Trentino

A four-day cookery school was also organized for students and professional cooks and chefs.“For the first time ever, students at Shanghai’s Paramitta Institute of Culinary & Hospitality (PICH) have been able to explore Italian cooking under the guidance of Italian chefs,” explains chef Sebastian Sun. “Thanks to Slow Food, the courses have opened the door to the Chinese chefs of the future and given them in-depth understanding of the fundamentals of Italian gastronomy. Italian cooking, which resembles Chinese cooking in many respects, is one of the most popular western schools among local consumers. By educating them and the young generations with this type of program, Slow Food and PICH are bringing new stimuli to modern Chinese gastronomic culture without losing sight of traditions, local produce and environmental sustainability.”

“The activity has represented a step forward in quality for Slow Food Great China,” says Sun Qun, founder of Slow Food Great China and a member of the Slow Food’s international executive committee. “Since 2015, the year in which Slow Food Great China was founded, the movement’s progress has been frenetic to say the least: from the exhibition of the first hundred Chinese products to be boarded on the Ark of Taste in Beijing, to the Slow Food International Congress in 2017 in Chengdu, which brought together 400 activists from 90 different countries to speak about the future of Slow Food. This new project is a way of recognizing the excellence of the association’s educational activities.”“Thanks to the expertise of delegates from Slow Food and the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo,” says  Massimiliano Tremiterra of ICE-Agenzia, “the activity has allowed us to present the best of the Italian gastronomic tradition in a structured and compelling fashion to a knowledgeable public of young aspiring chefs and a great many food lovers who are increasingly keen to find out more about Italian recipes and food products.”

“One of Slow Food’s main objectives is to teach consumers to opt for a more sustainable food system,” explains Paolo Di Croce, secretary general of Slow Food. “This education and training project aims to raise the awareness of cooks and young people who, we believe, are among the leading players who can work at choices to change the ways in which we produce and consume food. Once the initial training stage has been completed, the next step will be to translate activities at local level to elevate the quality of native Chinese food products.”