QUALITALY_104

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APR. MAY 2018
VII
project that gives the opportunity to
the selected outstanding individuals
to follow an exclusive training plan
that aims to equip them with special
business, leadership and management
skills.
Gruppo Amorim is the world leader
in the production of cork stoppers. It
alone covers 25% of the world market
for this sector and 23% of the global
market for wine closures; it has 22
branches scattered throughout the
main wine producing countries of the
five continents. The Italian branch of
Amorim Cork is located in Conegliano
(Treviso). In 2015, it confirmed its
position as the market leader in
the country, able to satisfy 25% of
national demand. The same year, the
Group recorded 480 million stoppers
sold, with a turnover of 48 million
euros (+11% compared to 2014).
The production phases that take
place in Italy are those of finishing
and customising the product, starting
exclusively from semi-finished
products coming from the group’s
plants, in order to guarantee control
of the entire production chain.
In Italy, approximately 1,000,000
stoppers are processed daily; the
production unit has a storage capacity
of approximately 45 million stoppers
of all types, with an average rotation
of 40 days. www.amorimcorkitalia.
com/master Course of food & design
innovation at the Politecnica School
of Design in Milan, known all over
the world, aims to train professionals
working in the food sector and
related sectors who can combine
marketing and communication skills
with the sensitivity and design
methodology of design.
The Master is aimed at Italian and
overseas graduates from several
scientific, social and humanistic
faculties.
The teaching of the master’s degree
is divided into lessons, design
workshops and conferences with
the protagonists of the agro-food
and design sector: entrepreneurs,
managers, journalists, gastronomic
critics, designers, architects,
publishers and chefs. It also includes
visits to food companies, concept
stores, restaurants and important
food fairs and events. At the end of
the educational course, the school
offers its students an internship in
companies, agencies and institutions
in the food sector.
AT PAGE 22
IN THE PANTRY
Excellence on the plate
Principals, cultivation, associations
and very high attention thresholds.
Not only that: innovation and
research are set aside to enhance
what we hold most dear in our
country. Italy has a lot to offer. This
is explained by Edoardo Raspelli,
who with MelaVerde is always on
the lookout for rarities and the
highest quality.
By Riccardo Sada
He says that no one has the courage
to criticise anymore and that the
overly imaginative cooks make him
lose his cool. Edoardo Raspelli,
food critic and host of MelaVerde
on Canale5, hates comments on
Tripadvisor and struggles to support
Italian chefs who are good but
touchy and ungrateful. Diligent,
attentive, ready for anything,
Raspelli immediately explains how,
when and how much the bar has
shifted (upwards, of course) in terms
of food in our country. And initially
raises it a bit far.
“In 1975, Cesare Lanza, my then
director at Corriere d’Informazione,
forced me to critique restaurants
and led me to invent gastronomic
criticism. In a nutshell there was
really the worst. At the time, the
consumption of wine per capita
was 120 litres, in Italy: there were
Lambrusco, Chianti. Stop. Because
at that time eating was done without
any particular attention to the
quality or nutritional properties
of a dish. The pleasure of eating
was born in 1977, with Gualtiero
Marchesi, the Enoteca Pinchiorri and
another handful of restaurants that
made the turning point. From there
the ‘awakening’ of the restaurateur
was achieved. Coldiretti then focused
on producers and on local produce.
I witnessed the birth of Slow Food
with Petrini. We then founded the
Espresso Guide, with which to give
a verdict (even negative) of the
restaurants. On the Manifesto I took
care of the Gambero Rosso page.
The 80s and 90s were the years of
the new Italian well-being. Finally,
recent history, TV and talent have
definitively brought awareness to
star chefs.”
How does the market relate to
high quality today?
In the best way, because it’s more
and more attentive. In Italy we don’t
all have the mentality of spending
a lot of money to eat. But things
are changing and the consumer has
improved. The consumer has many
other priorities, employment in the
first place, but among these has
begun to reserve sufficient resource
to their food.
Does high quality means
inaccessibility and high costs?
No. Or in any case not always.
Going around Italy you can discover
places where you eat sublimely and
at more than reasonable prices. If
we’re talking about business, in Italy
we can do great things. In a large
restaurant in France
where there are no first courses on