A book on Albania’s Ark of Taste products in Albanian and English has recently been published, and is now available in bookshops across the country.
It can also be downloaded here in digital format.
The book catalogs 57 products from across the country and testifies to the richness of Albanian gastronomy, a heritage that ranges from the grape and olive varieties of its Mediterranean shores to the great dairy traditions of the Albanian Alps. This gastronomic wealth managed to survive 40 years of a rigid communist regime and is now slowly re-emerging as one of the key characteristics of the Albanian people’s legendary hospitality.
The revival of Albanian cuisine has also been nurtured by the dedication of a new generation of chefs—often trained abroad—who have dared to move beyond international dishes and have instead proudly placed their peasant cultural heritage at the center of what is now known as New Albanian Cuisine. This is why Slow Food has established a Slow Food Cooks’ Alliance in Albania, whose members have contributed recipes to the Ark of Taste book.
This book has been made possible thanks to the contribution of the FAO, and is the result of close cooperation between multiple stakeholders: the vibrant Slow Food network in Albania, the NGO VIS Albania providing crucial support, the University of Gastronomic Sciences, the chefs from the Slow Food Cooks’ Alliance and the Albanian Ministry of Agriculture.
This publication is part of a service provided by Slow Food and VIS to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations as part of a Letter of Agreement in support of project TCP/ALB/3606 “Building MARDWA administrative capacities for technical negotiations with European Union in agriculture and rural development.”