Taste and judge, here the difficult task of the food and wine critic. But to be able to express an authoritative and professional opinion it is necessary to have some skills and to refine others. Knowing how to write and communicate, train the palate, experiment with new flavors and combinations, nourish your gastronomic culture. In short, you need to know the world of catering. These are some aspects that identify a professional who, in freely and consciously communicating his opinion on the experience he has at table, has in some way the delicate "power" of influencing and orienting the fate of a restaurant.
Gastronomic criticism has its own ethics, but according to the masked critic Valerio M. VisintinThis is an aspect that is increasingly neglected. With these assumptions the ithe course Write about Taste, which focuses on food as a culture, from cooking to writing. The training path that will take the away in Milan in April 2019, is organized by Sasso / Paper is doof and directed by the Corriere della Sera critic who visits incognito restaurants.
The lessons, addressed to writers, journalists (professionals and not) or simple enthusiasts of the sector, will have an approach interdisciplinary e they are conceived as drafting meetings. Therefore, all students will be immediately involved in the drafting of editorial plans, receiving specific tasks from the editor-in-chief, to immediately acquire a method to write a gastronomic review. After the lessons in the classroom and the workshop part, of exercise, writing, but also of relationship and debate, will be born EATMI, an independent guide to the catering of the Lombard capital. The first guide created by an educational editorial staff, under the direction of a critic like Visintin and published by Baldini + Castoldi.
Knowing how to write a text, use the correct writing techniques and build an article starting from a tasting, are just some of the topics that will be addressed. The teachers they come from the catering sectors (Antonello Maietta, President of AIS), food (Anna Anghileri, nutritionist), journalism (Alessandro Galimberti, President of the Lombardy Order of Journalists) and the media (Massimo Bernardi, director of Dissapore).
The future professionals of gastronomic criticism, afterwards 8 lessons and 5 workshops, from April to July, they will directly know the food and its specificities, will develop curiosity and critical spirit in order to communicate the potential of a product and the territorial excellences. Moreover, the field tests, including tastings, food and wine tours and dinners in restaurants, will complete and enrich the training, passing from theory to practice with tasting techniques, the physiology of flavor, but also the importance of the room with sommellerie and reception, organization and service.
"Gastronomic criticism? In Italy it does not exist, except for heroic exceptions – states Valerio M. Visintin – In the most noble cases, sector journalism has renounced it due to lack of economic resources and excess of realism. But they are very many to interpret the role, betraying the mission with shameless and systematic ethical violations. We want to teach the culinary critic's job, recovering its cultural dignity and ethical syntax. And we intend to do it, tracing an alternative editorial perspective."
Details about the course, costs and the complete program can be found on the Sasso / Carta website.
Mariacristina Coppeto
February 2019
Cover photo: Pixabay
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