Tempi di Recupero: Scraps, Leftovers and Traditions

“In Italian football speak, the tempi di recupero are the final minutes of stoppage time, the last chance to save the match and change the outcome, as well as the time needed to recover from an injury. Today we find ourselves in those minutes, in that injury time during which we have to change our food habits, change course and learn how to stop wasting food,” explains Carlo Catani, former director of the University of Gastronomic Sciences and creator of the Tempi di Recupero project.

Started in 2012, Tempi di Recupero has set itself the objective of promoting—with joy and fun— something very important, the culture of recycling and salvaging in the kitchen. The project interprets the concept of “recupero” (recovery) in three different ways: reuse, the repurposing of leftovers from the day before; tradition, the recovery of still-remembered recipes and knowledge; and the “fifth quarter,” the recovery of humble ingredients such as offal that are often thrown away.

What better place to do this than at the table, especially during a convivial occasion like a dinner in an osteria or a restaurant? Or at home, the place where each of us can and should put into action a culture of recovery? The real stars of Tempi di Recupero are restaurant hosts, hospitality artisans, creative chefs and the wise azdore (Romagna’s legendary housewives, the queens of the domestic hearth) who are ready to accept the challenge of creating an exceptional dinner using offcuts and humble ingredients and telling us their vision of recovery and sustainability.

This year the Tempi di Recupero will expand from one day, becoming Tempi di Recupero Week. From November 16 to 24, restaurants, osterias and home cooks can all take part in an initiative to share their interpretation of recovery cooking with a four-course menu.

The project also has an admirable altruistic intent because a share of the funds raised will be donated to two initiatives with related themes and objectives: Massimo Bottura’s Food for Soul and the Slow Food “Food for Change” campaign, which, just like Tempi di Recupero, was started with the intention of proposing solutions through our everyday actions in support of projects that fight climate change and are working to ensure a better future for our planet.

Tempi di Recupero Week is an opportunity to share a more conscious and sustainable concept of cooking, together with restaurants, osterias, trattorias and home kitchens around the world, and also a chance to be part of change with Slow Food.

In order to propose your recovery menu and participate in the initiative you can find at this link all the information needed to make a submission. For more details write to [email protected]

Are you ready to tell us about your recovery time?