The Ark of Taste

The Ark of Taste aims to rediscover, catalogue, describe and publicize forgotten flavours. It is a metaphorical recipient of excellent gastronomic products that are threatened by industrial standardization, hygiene laws, the regulations of large-scale distribution and environmental damage.

Ark products range from the Italian Valchiavenna goat to the American Navajo-Churro sheep, from the last indigenous Irish cattle breed, the Kerry, to a unique variety of Greek fava beans grown only on the island of Santorini. All are endangered products that have real economic viability and commercial potential.


Presidia

Slow Food’s Ark of Taste has catalogued hundreds of extraordinary products from around the world. This project has made an important contribution to the documentation of the existence of diverse traditional foods, but it was not enough to guarantee their survival. For this reason, Slow Food has created the Presidia, the working arm of the 'Ark of Taste.’

If Ark products can have an economic impact, they can be saved from extinction. This is the simple reasoning behind the Presidia - small projects to assist groups of artisan producers.
Sometimes, it takes just a little to save an artisan food – it may be enough to bring together producers, help them coordinate marketing and promotion, and establish quality and authenticity standards for their product. At other times, when the production of an artisan food is closer to the brink, more is needed - like building an oven or reconstructing crumbling farmhouse walls.
Slow Food Presidia work in different ways, but the goals remain constant: to promote artisan products, to stabilize production techniques, to establish stringent production standards and, above all, to guarantee a viable future for traditional foods.

The most important result of the project is that it has proven that consumers are willing to pay fair prices for Ark products, and that their production can be an economically viable activity.