The Alliance Cook
A few simple rules for revolutionary cooks…
Collaborate with farmers and breeders who preserve biodiversity
Biodiversity is made up of local breeds, fruits, vegetables and legumes, but also of breads, sweets, cured meats and cheeses – the products resulting from centuries of know-how. We cannot let them be lost, pushed out of a market that no longer values them. Choose fruits and vegetables grown with respect for soil fertility, without polluting waterways. They’re more flavorful and healthier.
Cook and promote Presidia and Ark of Taste products, which can be indicated using their logos.
Rediscover the history of your territory and share it wherever your kitchen is
Our identity is also composed of our foods, by their fragrances and their flavors. Rediscover the products and recipes from your land, offer them and share their story. It is the best way to show who you are, where you live and the unique history of your community. It doesn’t matter if you manage a large restaurant or a street food stand, if you cook in homes or if your place is a small bistro.
Buy directly from local producers and pay them fairly
You’ll spend less and they’ll earn more. You’ll enjoy it, because to meet people who work with passion and are in direct contact with the soil reconnects us with the Earth. Biodiversity is also just outside your door.
Write the names of your suppliers on your menu and give their addresses to your clients
There is a need for people who aren’t afraid to stand behind their products, and knowing the farmer and buying directly from the farmstead is the strongest guarantee there is.
Use seasonal products
Our planet is suffering. Intensive agriculture has lost touch with the rhythms of nature. Let’s reconnect, starting with the seasons: the freshest products are more fragrant, more flavorful and higher quality.
Use less meat, and whenever possible, from animals raised in good conditions
Too much meat is harmful for our health, and intensive meat production is harmful for our planet. Furthermore, industrial meat production is a source of great suffering for poultry, pigs, cattle and rabbits. Buy from breeders that respect their animals and pay attention to their welfare.
Buy seafood from small-scale fisherman and favor local seafood
In this way you’ll follow the seasonality of wild species that do not come from highly polluted, intensive aquaculture, and you’ll commit to cooking with and appreciating a wide range of marine species, which reflect the diversity of different fishing techniques and the richness of our ecosystems.
Show solidarity
Some very widespread products – sugarcane, coffee, teas and cocoa – only grow in a few parts of the world, and therefore come from sometimes faraway countries. Large multinationals often decide how much they will pay for a product and how little farmers or workers will earn. In these cases, choose fair trade products or those from companies that give you the most information about the place of origin and cultivation methods, that tell you who made the product and in what conditions.
Don’t waste food and think about trash
The inhabitants of our planet waste one-third of the food they produce, some during the production phase, and some because it never gets eaten.
At the same time, one billion people suffer from hunger. Don’t waste food, and use leftovers. Many traditional recipes were created exactly to make use of the less appreciated parts of food and discards: rediscover them.
Pay attention to trash: separate materials and consume less to reduce pollution that destroys the planet.
Support Slow Food
Slow Food’s projects and campaigns succeed and grow thanks to an extraordinary network of supporters: it is your voice that tells the story of small-scale producers and interprets them in the form of many different dishes; the funds collected at many small events are those that help African communities to construct thousands of gardens and to bring producers together to build Presidia.