Cornucopia is a statement of intent, a symbol of research and rediscovery of the immense cultural heritage of my region. This is the symbol that represents the active quest for taking back the tastes and traditions of my land starting from the Bronze Age all through Celts and Etruscans, ancient Romans, Middle Ages, and Renaissance, up to the most recent age that predates WWII.
Food and drink on our tables have changed immensely since the 40s, as are the fruits and vegetables grown in the fields, not to mention livestock, as much as basically any byproduct of the food and beverage chain. Italy is rediscovering its roots and there are dozens of amazing people that already turned the other way round and are already offering food and drink as close to our tradition as possible. However, we have decided to go for the heart, focusing on the educational aspects of our culinary heritage. Our plan is to share knowledge and create a community of enthusiasts that are interested in understanding how our historical recipes were born, how have they changed, what they tasted like 10, 100, 1000 years ago.
My personal mission lately has been researching old plants and animals, preparations and recipes, methods of food processing, and so on. We will start by spreading as much knowledge as possible by asking the real professionals of these fields, but we also plan to use unconventional methods for spreading this knowledge (our main project is a secret! :-)) as well as creating a big vegetable garden where to grow old and lost cultivation as well as several other activities directly connected. We will also produce a line of historical/traditional products, as well as distribute products that adhere to the standards of the Cornucopia 20 Manifesto (which basically says anything prepared has to be made only from traditional and local products and only within the correct seasonal time frame). Soon we will also talk of Cornucopia products, dishes, recipes, and so on, but first, we start talking about my region, Emilia-Romagna, and its millennial history of agriculture and food preparations.
Cornucopia’s page will be mainly in Italian but feel free to ask here for any details. We hope to soon have restaurants and other food-wine related activities spot at least one Cornucopia product in their menu, the list will be kept on the upcoming website www.cornucopia20.org as well as this page.
Nunc est Bibendum!
