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| International Presidia |
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Story
The Presidia began in Italy in 1999 as the working arm of the Ark of Taste. The Ark had catalogued hundreds of products at risk of disappearing; but with the Presidia, Slow Food decided to make a concrete contribution to the world of food production. This step included understanding the management of land, meeting producers and working to help them through understanding their products, their work, and their wisdom.
The first two ‘test projects’ took place in Piedmont, with the project to save the Morozzo Capon, and in Tuscany, with the Zolfino Bean Presidium. At the beginning it was difficult to explain the importance of the project model; it was met with suspicion by producers and it plainly perplexed public bodies. However, in only a few months the Presidia were launched.
An important first milestone was at the Salone del Gusto in 2000. The section of the event dedicated to the first 90 Italian Presidia attracted the most press and visitor interest by far. After 2000 the Presidia projects started to grow around the world. The first 19 International Presidia made their debut at the Salone del Gusto in 2002. Some of these — especially those in European countries — are philosophically very similar to the Italian Presidia, while others have developed new and different approaches to agriculture and food production.
In some cases the Presidia are operating in a different food tradition. In the United States, for instance, local gastronomy is actually a mix of influences from cuisines around the world. For this reason a new Presidium model was created in the United States to promote artisan makers of raw milk cheese, uniting a group of producers around a political food issue rather than an existing product. In other situations it has been important to understand the concept of taste quality in a relative sense, when confronting tastes, history and knowledge very distant from European, and in particular Italian, sensibilities.
Lastly and most importantly, Slow Food began Presidia projects in the developing world. In these Presidia the project often takes into consideration not only the production realities but also socio-cultural (for example, promoting the involvement of women or schooling for the producers’ children) and environmental aspects. In this part of the world the Presidia are not only about preserving a gastronomic tradition, but may also aid in developing a product through technical assistance (by paying for a consulting agronomist or organizing work experiences with expert producers in the field), or through buying necessary equipment (such as a huller, harvester, or vacuum-packer).
In 2003, the Presidia became part of the story of the Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity, the leading body for all Slow Food projects dedicated to the preservation of biodiversity.
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