International Forum on Italian Cuisine: seven practical guidelines

Months after Italian Cuisine was inscribed as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage (recognised on 10 December 2024), Milan hosted the first International Forum on Italian Cuisine within TuttoFood. Chefs, institutions, entrepreneurs and supply-chain operators met to convert the UNESCO listing into concrete actions for the sector.

The discussion produced seven shared strategic guidelines focused on enhancing gastronomic culture, strengthening the supply chain and promoting Italian food heritage abroad.

• From recipe to culture: acknowledge cuisine as an intangible heritage encompassing local traditions, techniques and collective memory, with measures to safeguard practices and products.
• System approach across the supply chain: foster coordination among agriculture, food industry, hospitality and distribution to increase coherence and added value.
• Cuisine as soft power: leverage restaurants and cultural initiatives abroad to boost the perceived value of Italian products and position them on premium market segments.
• Food and wine tourism as distributed development: promote tourism that spreads benefits across regions, helps decongest major hubs and lengthens visitor stays.
• Traceability and certification worldwide: design mapping and certification systems for foreign restaurants using DOP/IGP products to enhance export value and root-based tourism.
• Education and training: invest in school programs, culinary institutes and vocational paths to pass on skills and ensure custodianship of the heritage.
• Courage, contemporaneity and innovation: balance tradition with innovation—emphasising sustainability, waste reduction and research to sustain international competitiveness.

The Forum also underlined concrete targets and projections, addressing issues from combating imitation to projected growth in gastronomic tourism and targeted certification initiatives to promote local producers. The shared approach aims to combine cultural protection with sustainable economic benefits for producing communities.

The full Forum session is available to view online for those who wish to explore the discussions in detail.