04-11-2019

Sense of responsibility: the theme of Identità 2020 is revealed

It's now time to make some important choices, which will be the focus of edition 16, on March 7th-9th in Milan

Massimo Bottura on the stage of the Auditorium at

Massimo Bottura on the stage of the Auditorium at Identità Golose 2015

Today, as ever, it’s time to make choices.

Those who are part, to every degree, of the restaurant world now can access so many sources of information that it sounds as anachronistic and guilty to think that we are not connected with everyone, in every corner of the world. We can find information effortlessly, as long as we truly want to do so, and not for a joke, while continuing to procrastinate important and inevitable choices.

We must all have in mind the most important value of all, which comes before any law, rule or regulation: a Sense of Responsibility.

The problems affecting the Earth and its inhabitants are such that we can no longer hide in our microcosmos, restaurant or editorial office, winery or pastry shop, passively enduring everything that happens around us. We have a conscience, let’s use it to do immediately what we can and must, even before any law or regulation will impose it as an obligation.

And, indeed, A Sense of Responsibility will be the theme of Identità Golose 2020, the 16th edition, from Saturday 7th to Monday 9th March.

In words, everyone can be good, in and outside the kitchen, in the dining room and in the cellar. Yet when it comes to action, are we really aware of what respect for nature, a project’s environmental and economic sustainability, and respect for collaborators, clients and suppliers really mean?

The Human Factor in 2018, and then Building New Memories as its logical evolution in 2019, were the most recent themes of Identità Golose, but they’re so strong they still accompany us to this day.

The time has come to go beyond the eternal confrontation between tradition and innovation, and to go beyond the mere pronouncing of the word sustainability. The human factor urges us to surround us with people, and not to reduce daily life to browsing online, and to go out in the sun and share ideas with others. New memories are born from the very fact we have understood our ideal path. Then each one will say what’s best for them: whether to cultivate the past in light of the present, or renew what’s known to make the future current.

La Ritrovata, Franco Pepe's take on pizza marinara

La Ritrovata, Franco Pepe's take on pizza marinara

And this also implies truths that are sometimes betrayed. We speak about the past and the future, about sustainability and coherence, about fighting plastic and safeguarding the seas and the oceans, about respecting collaborators and suppliers, about those who too often are not respected, or even not paid at all. By repeating all this so much, we risk depriving everything of its real meaning.

A Sense of Responsibility must lead us to feed every truth with authentic content. We can no longer continue to justify everything, to act as if the world was not suffering, or to deny economic and social differences among different countries, and even within the same country. Damned be, for instance, the fight for the lowest price, because it affects quality and leads to the triumph of the feast for a few euros, but it’s not enough. We must become aware of the work conditions in many all you can eat places, or of those who deliver anywhere, on bike.

Making a good choice is also about not accepting some realities.

Corrado Assenza at Identità Golose 2016 in Milan

Corrado Assenza at Identità Golose 2016 in Milan

This doesn’t mean we must all turn into saints. But we must become aware that a change is necessary, that we must take the first steps and that we must not avoid doing something virtuous just because “nothing will ever change, no matter what I do”. It’s not true. Milan creating the largest “limited traffic” area in Italy, Senigallia banning plastic, waste sorting, are all important signs, which we must notice and elaborate on. Making less mistakes is the beginning of virtuous cycles.

Identità Golose 2020 – A Sense of Responsibility will show all this, it will point the spotlight at big and small stories in which a Sense of Responsibility allows now to adopt good practices and changes that are necessary and destined to be copied and to be more and more popular.

In Italy and around the world.


IG2020: on the road

by

Paolo Marchi

born in Milan in March 1955, at Il Giornale for 31 years dividing himself between sports and food, since 2004 he's the creator and curator of Identità Golose.
blog www.paolomarchi.it
instagram instagram.com/oloapmarchi

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