At this time last year, I was eating a pizza with two dear friends in Modena. Hard to believe after a 12 course lunch at Massimo Bottura's Osteria Francescana a few hours earlier. It was an experience that I will always cherish and it is one of the reasons (though the story is much more complicated than that) why Food and Wine Gazette was born. We are still months away from our first year anniversary of Food and Wine Gazette, but 9th May marks a very important milestone for me. Years earlier, when the word foodie was still not mainstream as it is today, I had set myself two targets when it came to experiencing Italian cuisine, that of eating at Fulvio Pierangelini's Gambero Rosso and at Massimo Bottura's Osteria Francescana. Both chefs have been extremely important for contemporary Italian cuisine though the styles cannot be more different to each other. Having eaten at Gambero Rosso a few years before it closed for ever, the visit to Massimo Bottura marked an important … [Read more...]
Money talks: Controversial sponsorship at Milan Expo highlights many contradictions
They say you need to lead by example so the announcement by Expo Milano recently that McDonald's and Coca Cola are now event sponsors has raised more than a few eyebrows. With the theme of the Expo Milano 2015 being 'Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life', many were quick to point out that this sponsorship announcement was jarring to say the least. With the Expo aimed at raising awareness about sustainability, food waste and healthy living, it is no wonder that the decision has been criticised by many. To understand this contradiction you may want to read further below what the Milan Expo is about. Slow Food were quick to point out the contradiction. They said that "we continue to believe that in order to feed the planet, it is essential that we consider social and economic sustainability, in terms of access to good, clear food that is fair for all. We also continue to believe that multinationals cannot in any way represent solutions as to how to nourish the … [Read more...]
Ten reasons why food critics in newspapers may disappear sooner than we think
Elisia Menduni, a journalist we follow on Twitter tweeted on Monday that editor of Observer Food Monthly Allan Jenkins had said that the food critic in newspapers will no longer exist in 10 years time. She was participating in the Parabere Forum organised for the first time in Bilbao. The forum aims to bring a collective of women from across the gastronomic industry. We replied saying we thought that this will happen much earlier. Twitter is a great tool for engagement but it is not necessarily the best platform to delve deeper into why we think so. So here are a few points on why we think that food critics (as we know them today) will disappear in newspapers sooner than 10 years. 1. Go back 10 years and think of what did not exist back then. When we look back, it is amazing to see how quick the pace of change has been. Few would have realised that such major disruptions in many industries were around the corner. 2. The newspaper (and media organisations as we … [Read more...]