On Monday 27th October 2008, within the vast programme of the Slow Food movement’s Salon of Taste which was held in Turin between the 23rd and the 27th October, Cristina Grasseni of the Bassetti Foundation took part in the round table presentation “The Shepherdess: Queen of the Alps”, devoted to the innovative local experiences of women making a living in the mountains.
Organized by the association Marchat Europenc d’Occitania and moderated by Elisabetta Tolosano and Augusto Grandi, journalists from the Italian financial newspaper “Il sole 24ore”, the presentation opened with an introduction by the organiser, Peyre Majorin, President of the Association, and several local politicians and members of administrative authorities. Among these were Luciano Caveri, Regional Councillor of Valle d’Aosta, Massimo Garavelli, President of the Parco Naturale del Gran Bosco di Salbertrand and Cesare Olivero Pistoletto, President of the Comunità Montana Alta Valle Susa. The speakers debated the many innovative ways in which mountain products can be revived and marketed, distinguishing between “typical”, “traditional” and “local” products.
The discussion led by Enrico Camanni, director of “L’Alpe” focussed on the contemporary strategies of “equal opportunities” in the mountains, underlining women’s responsibility as innovators, entrepreneurs and social bearers of cultural and economic traditions. Cristina Grasseni, author of “La reinvenzione del cibo. Culture del gusto fra tradizione e globalizzazione ai piedi delle Alpi” insisted on the role of mountain women as innovators, both within the family and in the community at large, as educators, entrepreneurs, communicators, and finally as mediators between new and old cultures and techniques, and between general economic and legal frameworks and local strategies of survival.
Annibale Salsa, President of the Italian Alpine Club, underlined the female innovative profile within the general decline of traditional identities.
First person testimony of local initiatives to foster the economic cultural and social role of women in the mountains was given by Marta Canuto, goat cheese producer, Patrizia Palonta, president of the “Coordinamento Donne di Montagna” (women in the mountains) in Valle Maira, and Marilena Peaquin, entrepreneur in Valle d’Aosta. The session was followed by a performance of the Coro Baiolese and a cheese-tasting session introducing the “Identity card” of six local cheeses presented by Fromatgeria Occitana.
Elsewhere, a high-tech version of the identity card system aims to use DNA analysis to demonstrate that products are safe in order to help in their marketing, even when they are produced using unpasteurised milk.