International Salone del Gusto – Day 2

This year the Salone del Gusto has been officially recognized as ‘International’. “Personally, I thought it was international already!” quipped Slow Food President Carlo Petrini during yesterday’s inauguration ceremony in the Lingotto Exhibition Center’s Sala dei 500 del Lingotto.

The fact is, though, that this year’s Salone really is more interrnational than ever before, as the 40% increase in the number of foreign visitors confirms.

Terra Madre, the world meeting of food communities, Time magazine’s recent nomination of Carlo Petrini as a ‘European hero’—these and other factors have combined to make new foreign membership applications soar to unprecedented levels.

Many of the esxtra 400 members a day who have joined in the course of the week come from countries such as Iceland, Hungary and Turkey, where Slow Food is now beginning to consolidate is presence.

15,000 people a day have taken part in the bookable events such as the Taste Workshops, Three Glass Wine Tastings, the Theatre of Taste and Dinner Dates, while the regional restaurants have all been sold out. Over 250 people have eaten at the Sicily restaurant so far, while the 50 available places in the Puglia restaurant have always been filled at lunch and dinner. 130 people a day have attended Veneto’s regional eatery, 160 Campania’s.

The sales of Slow Food publications have also gone very well, particularly Vini d’Italia 2005 (available in English in the new year as Italian Wines, and the new Osterie d’Italia guide (600 copies a day).