Coordinator
Piero Sardo, SLOW FOOD

Food has come to take on many different dimensions in the metropolitan context of Torino, from the social and cultural to the economic and environmental. The local territory has shown a talent for innovation in: the protection of quality local food; innovative, quality-driven marketing; world class cultural events; its many social, educational, and cultural activities and events; urban agriculture; public awareness of the centrality and significance of food to healthy communities; food waste-reduction; specialty vocational training. The plurality and richness of the spectrum of actors, and the maturity and breadth of the sectors involved in each of these fronts, attest that food is one of the city’s true callings, an excellence renowned throughout Italy and the world that builds on the widely valued Italian brand. The Strategic Planning initiative aims to help the food sector scale up further, elevating Torino as a global food capital and becoming a pillar of metropolitan economic growth. The working group includes the full gamut of public, private and third-sector entities and is focused on developing strategies to ensure that healthy, high-quality food is accessible to all residents and visitors alike. On the one hand this means protecting, supporting, and rewarding quality production processes, and developing innovative communication and distribution mechanisms. On the other it means concerting a common metropolitan food agenda that consists of integrated governance and policy coordination.