Participants at the third edition of the competition Milan Mudec 2016 THE VEGETARIAN CHANCE Presentation The idea and the creators The Vegetarian Chance is a cultural association based in Switzerland, which aims to promote vegetarian cuisine and culture. The founders are the chef Pietro Leeman , owner of Michelin-star restaurant Joia in Milan and food journalist Gabriel Eschenazi , repectively President and Vice President of the Association. We work for a project: spread Gabriel Eschenazi true knowledge of vegetarianism , often victim of stereotypes, prejudices and even fashion which, while giving this diet more popularity and acceptance, it obscures its deeper and inner reasons . Pietro Leemann › There are more and more people in the world who embrace the vegetarian diet (more than half a billion). They do so to give an individual contribution to environmental awareness , to protect their own health and lifestyle, to explore and discover more natural and less processed/industry adulterated foods while better nourishing themselves. This choice is not only oriented towards plants as such, but focuses on products that haven’t depleted our soils , our biodiversity and aren’t loaded with harmful chemicals. This phenomenon is more cultural than just culinary/gourmet. It involves consumers, farmers, entrepreneurs, chefs, doctors, nutritionists, public and private organizations, governments . Lately IARC (International Agency for Research on Cancer) has indirectly addressed the audience towards the vegetarian diet by including red and processed meat among cancer’s risk factors. We are leading in the right direction. Not by spreading panic, but inviting to receive and ask for accurate information about what we eat in order to choose without interference. › The Vegetarian Chance (TVC) seeks to foster the ongoing revolution with its activities which include cultural nd gastronomic events (conferences, films, book a contest, show cookings, workshops, participation at events). The chief event of TVC is the annual festival hosting the international contest which in 2017 will reach its fourth edition on May 27 and 28. The third edition took place in Milan on June 11 and 12, 2016 at MUDEC, Milan’s museum of cultures .
The Vegetarian Chance ’s manifesto › Vegetarian cuisine offers an answer to the evolving needs of modern civilization: looking for a relationship with nature that is more aware and respectful, of a healthier life , of healthier, more nutritious and tasty food. Dishes in which meat or fish don’t find a place anymore are not missing something, but are actually fuller and richer in a variety of flavors, nutrients and a relationship with nature. There’s no giving up, just gaining. › There is no competition between carnivorous and vegetarian cuisine. The choice of eating vegetables rather than meat is an evolution of omnivorous cuisine that involves us as human beings endowed with conscience and free will, which allow us to make our own choices. › It is well proven that the hyper-production of meat and fish is rapidly depleting the planet with an infinite exploitation of resources which instead aren’t "infinite". › It will no longer be sustainable to use fifteen thousand liters of water and 15 kilos of soybeans to produce one kilo of meat when from just one kilo of soy it’s possible to obtain two kilos of tofu. › We aren’t sensitive to sustainabilty because we often pay very low prices for the meat we buy. The real cost, however, is not the one we read in the receipt, but the one we are all paying in terms of adverse effects on the environment and human health . Moreover we should not overlook the price of the suffering we inflict upon other living beings. Through mass slaughtering, man gives up inner growth , evolution, the pursue of happiness, the aspiration of every human being, always evoked by all philosophers: from Aristotle to Kant and also by scientist Albert Einstein . › Vegetarian culture proposes the use of nutrition to build a different relationship with nature ; more advanced, more peaceful. No longer an ephemeral enjoyment of food, but a prolonged state of happiness . › Almost with no choice our eating habits will have to change: more awareness and less conditioning. As of today we are much too used to fill our plate with food that is most easily available, without making a real choice , without looking at the ingredients, just allowing ourselves to be seduced by images and popular culture. › We all must learn to eat in a better way and this means to get to know the products of our territory, give value back to the seasons, make up time to dedicate to cooking and to what we put in our plates. Gualtiero Marchesi, guest of honor and judge in the first edition of the contest at Joia in June 2014 with Pietro Leemann and the chefs
Our first three years (2014/2016) In almost four years we’ve built a story, an identity, along the way we’ve found new friends, allies and admirers. On the top of the list are Lorenzo Castellini (http://www.esterni.org/ita/home), Vittorio Castellani (http://www.ilgastronomade.com), Jenny Sugar (www.jennysugar.com), Professor Carlo Modonesi (http://www.valorealimentare.it/autore/carlomodonesi), Agnese Z’graggen ( http://www.agnesezgraggen.ch ) . We started building an international network that will involve not only vegetarians and vegans, but also those who look at vegetarianism in perspective with sympathy and interest but have not yet abandoned the idea of being omnivorous. Our open proposal and all inclusive approach are achieving success in the entire gastronomic world and beyond it. There are many different vegetarian realities in the world. We intend to build a meeting point among them starting from Milan , where the debate on nutrition continues even after Expo (2015). › On June 7, 2014 , a symbolic place, Monte Verità in Ascona, Switzerland hosted the first event of The Vegetarian Chance. We began with a movie of Vandana Shiva , theme related conferences and a gala dinner. At the beginning of the 20th century, this place became a magnet for a community of “new thinkers” , who combined their ideas of purity and freedom with the practice of a vegetarian diet, in sharp contrast with the carnivorous eating habits of the time. Two weeks later, on June 22 , we held the first edition of the international contest won by Daniela Cicioni , freelance chef (see picture of her couscous winner), followed in ranking by Femke van den Heuvel , Dutch chef of Vlam In de Pan restaurant in Haarlem, Netherlands and Antonia Klugmann chef of Venissa restaurant in Venice. Among the jury we had the father of Italian cuisine, Gualtiero Marchesi , the nutritionist and writer Marco Bianchi , Joris Heijnen Director of Variatie in de Keuken , Dutch foundation that promotes healthy and sustainable cooking in the Netherlands. On March 2015 at Palazzo Isimbardi in Milan we held a panel discussion entitled Femke van den Heuvel on work Feeding the planet with the vegetarian diet . In May we twinned our event with Ortinfestival , in Turin . O n June 4, 2015 , we awarded young participants of a vegetarian recipes’ contest for secondary school classes promoted by the school ICS Milano Spiga . On June 7 we organized the second edition of the Festival at Cascina Cuccagna and Joia restaurant. Central to the program was the international contest , won that year by Swedish chef Anders Ramsay , next two second winners Carla Aradelli and Nadia Morandi . For the public there were international shows coookings like the one performed by the Japanese chef Toshio Tanahashi , promoter of the vegetarian Japanese Shojin cuisine . On June 30, at the Joia restaurant we met with Eva (Ethical Vegetarian Alternative, www.evavzw.be) Belgian NGO promoter of the Veggieday every Thursday in Gent . At Expo on September 15, we promoted a vegetarian day . At the Slow Food Theater scholars and representatives of different creeds expressed themselves Expo’s Slow Food theater: the debate on spirituality on the topic: Vegetarian nourishment and spirituality. The importance of food choice for a holistic dimension of life . Carlo Petrini , founder of Slow Food, participated in the event. Following, in the Identità Golose Expo Pavillion we held a meeting on the topic Haute cuisine of vegetables: for our environment, health and taste . Among participants we had Carlo Modonesi, professor of human ecology at the University of Parma; chef Davide Oldani ; Mark Moriarty , San Pellegrino Young Chef 2015; Clement Vachon , Head of International Relations of San Pellegrino.
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