The virtuous example of the Garden of the future: eating well to do good for yourself and the environment
Having a vegetable garden it is above all a care for oneself and cultivating the earth in a conscious and sustainable way can also contribute to the well-being of our planet. In short, we should all be a little bit peasants. The "recipe" is from Roberto Valbuzzi, famous TV face and chef of Crotto Valtellina in Malnate, who baptized theGarden of the future, three and a half hectares of organic crops in the agricultural park south of Milan where those vegetables are born that, from the earth to the table, can also do good for the environment.
Roberto Valbuzzi, among other things, has recently arrived in the bookstore with a new book that already contains all its history and tradition in the title: Cook, restaurateur, farmer. Recipes, flavors and memories made of air, earth, water and fire (Gribaudo, 2021). «I consider myself lucky, he says, «because in the family DNA I can count generations of farmers as well as restaurateurs. The grandparents run a farm in Mornago, also in the province of Varese: it is thanks to them that he has learned to appreciate the flavors of the earth and to develop a passion for cooking and fresh products.
«The earth is my cure. And also save the planet "
Just like it happens for the Garden of the future, born from a collaboration between a social agricultural cooperative, Agrivis, and a multinational in the food sector, Knorr, Unilever group. Seasonal vegetables are grown – for herbs, kale, ribs, black cabbage and spinach sown in July, the time of harvest has come – which adapt to the climate and the Lombard territory and with a better environmental impact than others more commonly used. The purpose? Make greater use of products of plant origin, paying attention to seasonality, the short supply chain and especially the variety.
In fact, it happens that 75% of the world's food supply comes from only 12 plant species and 5 animal species. And that the entire supply chain linked to food is responsible for more than 20% of the global impact on climate change, consumption of water and soil resources, depletion of non-renewable energy resources. The key to healthy and sustainable food starts from awareness at the table, agree the scientific consultants of the project, Professor Fabio Iraldo of the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna of Pisa and the nutritionist Evelina Flachi. It is possible to change eating habits if we are aware of the positive consequences that our choices can have. For our health and the environment around us.
Text by Filippo Falco
