The Alliance Goes Dutch

Slow Food’s project, The Alliance between Chefs and Slow Food Presidia, has launched in the Netherlands. The project brings together chefs with Presidia producers – small-scale farmers, fishers, breeders and food producers who, through their daily work, preserve rich gastronomic traditions at risk of extinction. Their foods are made with respect for the environment, seasons and local cultures and traditions. For many years Slow Food has been working to bring these products back to the market and ensure their future.

The Alliance project was launched in 2009 in Italy by the Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity to bring together these producers with chefs who want to use traditional and fresh ingredients on their menus and support small-scale producers and local economies. Participating chefs in the now-325 partner restaurants commit to using Slow Food Presidia products in their cooking and indicating their names on their restaurant menus, along with the Presidia logo.

The project was launched in the Netherlands this summer and already involves four restaurants: Merkelbach, Pianeta Terra, Osteria italiana Al Bácaro and Caffè Toscanini. Restaurants have already paired up with Dutch producers and feature Presidia such as Texel Sheep Cheese, a rustic cheese from the island of Texel, and Eastern Scheldt Lobster on their menus, as well as a number of ingredients from international Presidia such as Salina Capers (Italy), Huehuetenango Highland Coffee (Guatemala) and Mananara Vanilla (Madagascar).

The entry of the Netherlands in the project will be officially launched next week at the Salone del Gusto and Terra Madre, where participating Dutch chefs will be cooking at the Alliance Osteria on Sunday, October 28 from 1:00 pm until 3:30 pm. They will serve up traditional Dutch and Italian dishes made with Presidia products, presenting the Alliance as a true international project.

The Alliance Osteria can be found on the first floor of the Visitors’ Gallery, Lingotto Fiere. Find out more at www.slowfood.com