Interview with Antonio Tajani, Minister of Foreign Affairs, during the Italian Cuisine Week in the World

The first Italian Cuisine Week in the World (Settimana della cucina italiana nel mondo) was organised in 2016. An event that aims to promote our enogastronomic culture globally, as a national heritage to be preserved and enhanced. In different editions, there have been many novelties and innovations in this integrated promotional initiative by the Farnesina. On this occasion, we interviewed the Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Antonio Tajani, to delve into its key features.

Could you share with us the inspiration behind this initiative?

The Italian Cuisine Week in the World is an annual event that has been taking place for several years. However, this year, I wanted to emphasise even more the Italian cuisine and growth strategy, which I have focused on since my arrival at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We aim to promote the excellence of our enogastronomic culture globally, present an updated and avant-garde image of the country, and promote the fundamental values of quality, inclusion, and collaboration that are important pillars for our country. For this reason, this year, the Italian government has submitted the candidacy of Italian Cuisine for inclusion in the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage.

The eighth edition takes place from November 13th to 19th: what are the most important messages and values to convey?

We've named this year's edition "At the Table with Italian Cuisine: Well-being with Taste" to underscore the relationship between nutrition and well-being. We want to promote the Mediterranean Diet as a healthy lifestyle and a model of balanced nutrition accessible to everyone. But we also want to discuss the importance of protected designation of origin (PDO) and controlled designation of origin (DOC) products, the fight against the phenomenon of “Italian sounding,” and the enhancement of Italian villages and their traditional culinary products.

In terms of numbers and reach, can you give us an idea of the scale of the event and its reach, especially for this year's edition?

The exhibition unfolds through hundreds of initiatives organized by the network of Embassies, Consulates, Cultural Institutes, and Italian ICE offices abroad. During Italian Cuisine Week 2022, the Italian diplomatic and consular network organised a total of 1,427 events abroad, marking a 35% increase compared to the previous year, thanks in part to the lifting of pandemic-related restrictions.

Among the protagonists this year is Africa, with a project promoting Italian olive oil and wine in collaboration with Gambero Rosso. Why was this region chosen?

Africa is a growing continent and is among the foreign policy priorities of the Government. There is considerable potential for increased spread and reach of Italian products of excellence. Therefore, we developed an initiative with Gambero Rosso. The project includes video-lessons dedicated to the most famous Italian olive cultivars and major Italian grape varieties, along with a series of video recipes for typical African dishes associated with the use of extra virgin olive oil. These materials will also be used for events targeting schools, universities, training centers, and local African press.

For this year's edition of Italian Cuisine Week, MAECI has created multimedia projects for a broad and diverse audience. For 2023, we have also thought about young people, developing two more multimedia initiatives with an innovative approach, perhaps less conventional for a Public Administration. With Casa Artusi, we have implemented an initiative to showcase gastronomic "Italianisms" worldwide: a narrative of the strong intertwining of history, culture, and enogastronomy. With the Italian Academy of Cuisine, we have developed the "History of Italian cuisine in comics. From Etruscan noodles to Tiramisu," a narrative journey from its origins to the present day. All projects are translated into multiple languages to reach a wide audience and create our audience of tomorrow. At the Conference, we will also unveil our projects for 2024, for which we envision "The cuisine of roots," an initiative we want to implement as part of the Roots Tourism project.