The First International Forum on Food and Nutrition

Ten months of study and work; five position papers published on the topics of sustainable growth, climate change, health and access to food resources; and the gathering of ideas from the world’s opinion leaders: these are the actions for 2009 of the Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition, which today, in Rome, opens the first International Forum on Food & Nutrition. Scholars and experts from many countries will contribute and share their knowledge and expertise to add to the wealth of information developed and presented during the first year of activities of the Center, brainchild of Barilla.

“We have a dual objective today: on the one hand we would like to sum up the accomplishments of the first year of work of the Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition, a think tank that contributes to the debate on fundamental and continuously evolving themes strictly related to nutrition,” states Guido Barilla. “On the other, we expect new stimuli and insights that will help generate concrete and fertile debate. While it is far-fetched to think of halting the evolution of the planet, we have the moral duty to suggest orientations and make proposals that may contribute to sustainable development for all.”

The Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition is organized into four thematic areas: Food for Health, Food for All, Food for Sustainable Growth and Food for Culture. It is overseen by an Advisory Board, a body that ensures independence, identifies themes of concern and elaborates distinctive and scientifically valid contents, advancing recommendations and proposals. Members include Barbara Buchner, analyst with International Environment Agency (IEA) of Paris, Mario Monti, economist, Gabriele Riccardi, endocrinologist, Camillo Ricordi, scientist and surgeon, Joseph Sassoon, sociologist, and Umberto Veronesi, oncologist.

This multidisciplinary approach, focusing on the four thematic areas, is also reflected in the organization of today’s International Forum on Food & Nutrition, where work will take place in four sessions. The Forum will begin with speeches by Jim Butler, Vice Director General of FAO, and Monica Marshall, Vice Director, Head of Global Private Partnerships, World Food Program.

The first part of the Forum, dedicated to Food for All, will be introduced by Mario Monti and feature the following speakers: Martin Bloem, Chief of the Nutrition Policy Division of the World Food Program; Alexander Sarris, Director of the Trade and Markets Division of FAO; Radha Singh, Consultant for agriculture and nutrition for the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of India; and Lucio Stanca, Managing Director of Expo Milano 2015.

This panel will address various themes such as macroeconomic development models to ensure that wellbeing is effectively distributed and poverty is reduced, financial instruments for ensuring equitable access to food resources, the causes and effects of increasing prices of raw materials in the food sector, and the role of technology in agriculture as a response to growing food needs in developing countries.

The second session, dedicated to the theme Food for Health, will involve discussions between Camillo Ricordi, Gabriele Riccardi, Umberto Veronesi and William Haseltine, President of the William Haseltine Foundation for Medical Sciences and the Arts, an organization that supports the spread of healthcare services in developing countries. Topics will include the relationship between diet and health, scientific progress in improving daily diet, and the contributions technology can make in the agri-foods sector to sustain wellbeing for all.

The afternoon will open with the session dedicated to Food for Sustainable Growth, introduced by Barbara Buchner. The panel will include: Lester Brown, President of the Earth Policy Institute; Carlo Carraro, Rector of the University Ca’ Foscari of Venice and Director of the Program for Sustainable Development of the Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei; Vandana Shiva, scientist, political activist and environmentalist; Corrado Clini, Director General of the Ministry of the Environment and Territory. The themes discussed by the panel will include: the relations between climate change, agriculture and food; strategies of the international community for reducing the effect of climate change; strategies for ensuring agricultural productivity and food quality.

Lastly, the fourth session will address the theme of Food for Culture. Joseph Sassoon will present La dimensione culturale del cibo [The cultural dimension of food], the new position paper from the Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition, and discuss it together with: Massimo Montanari, one of the world’s foremost specialists in the history of food and eating; José Maria Aznar, former Prime Minister of Spain and President of the Foundation for Analysis and Social Studies (FAES); Shimon Peres, President of the State of Israel, who will be featured in a live videoconference. The speakers will discuss the relationship between food and culture in terms of the development of the different eating traditions over the course of history, social and cultural values associated with different eating styles, food as a means of integration, and possible scenarios regarding the introduction of a ‘global diet’.  

You may follow the work of the International Forum on Food & Nutrition in real time via web stream on the website of the Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition: www.barillacfn.it

Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition
The Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition is a multidisciplinary think tank focusing on issues of food and nutrition and their relations to economics, medicine, diet, sociology and the environment.  

The work of the Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition is backed by an authoritative Advisory Board composed of Barbara Buchner, analyst with the International Environment Agency (IEA) of Paris, Mario Monti, economist, Gabriele Riccardi, endocrinologist, Camillo Ricordi, surgeon and scientist, Joseph Sassoon, sociologist, Umberto Veronesi, oncologist.

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