As part of the True Italian Taste project, it was born “See you in the room”, a web series on the excellence of Made in Italy agri-food and which deals with a harmful phenomenon for the Italian economy: theItalian Sounding. This is the use of words, images or geographical indications that evoke Italy to promote the marketing of products that are actually only imitations and that have very little Italian.
A widespread phenomenon especially in the USA, Canada, South America, Australia and also in Europe. A fake Made in Italy that exploits the food and wine reputation of our country, with foreign companies that produce at lower prices but sell at higher prices using our name. An enormous damage not only for our economy and Italian exports, but also for local producers and consumers.
But how was Italian Sounding born? With theItalian emigration abroad between the 800s and 900s. From that moment on, the Italian food and wine culture spread throughout the world, making our traditions and products known. Often, the descendants of Italian emigrants use their roots and their surname as a brand for products that in reality have no connection with our territory.
With this program, Assocamerestero has the objective of making Italian agri-food companies aware of the problem, making them more aware of the strong international competition but also of the great positioning opportunities abroad and, finally, helping consumers to recognize authentic Italian products and not fall into false imitations.
The program is conducted by the presenter Cristiana Banchetti and the food and wine critic Luca Iaccarino who, in each episode, will interact with representatives of the Italian Chambers of Commerce Abroad and other guests connected live, such as chefs, opinion leaders, insiders and spokesperson related to the topics covered.
Every Thursday at 19:00, starting April 29 and for 6 episodes, the entertainment web series will be broadcast, financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and created by Assocamerestero in collaboration with the Italian Chambers of Commerce Abroad. Other contents will be available on the official Instagram and Facebook social channels of True Italian Taste.
Each episode will have a specific theme: dairy, pasta, ready meals, meat, baked goods and condiments. There will also be advice, updates on laws and regulations of the sector, opportunities and innovations for the supply chain. All of this will be accompanied by in-depth features such as "True Italian Stories" where we will talk about companies, consortia and institutions that with their activities seek to make Italian food and wine more competitive and appreciated in the world, or "ITALY vS itali", a moment of comparison between two versions of Italian products in which, however, there is no comparison.
Finally, particular attention will be paid to companies and the web, with the section "The Hedgehog Innovation”, dedicated precisely to innovations, startups and realities that seek to protect products and processes through production, distribution and transformation, presented by Simona Riccio, Digital Strategist and Social Media Marketing Manager of Caat (Agro-Food Center of Turin).
The first episode focused on dairy products: Parmigiano Reggiano, mozzarella and other cheeses, among the most imitated in the world. For example in Thailand you can find the fake mozzarella, also known as zottarella, the Australian "Parmesan" or the Spanish extra virgin olive oil. To Hong Kong instead, there are many specialized shops of authentic Italian products, but many imitations of our cheeses can be found in large retailers. And this constitutes enormous damage for the Italian sector. Also to Singapore the phenomenon of Italian Sounding is very high and constitutes a great missed opportunity for our country especially as regards food service and retail. Given that Singapore boasts one of the highest per capita incomes in the world, with 95% of food imports.
At the end of the episode Simona Riccio underlined how the digital world is increasingly part of our lives, especially in the year marked by the pandemic, in which the web has become an indispensable tool for communicating but also for selling. But we must be careful of fake news, but how? Thanks to the new Emerge platform, a bridge between Italian food and international buyers. It is a sort of search engine where Italian producers can create their own digital showcase (which can be modified at any time) and show their products to buyers who will be able to resell the same product nationally and internationally. An interesting way to spread through the web the real Made in Italy all over the world.
