Food heritage and sustainaibility. An ethnographic analysis

In recent years, the dialogue surrounding food has evolved significantly, shifting focus toward its origins, quality, and, crucially, its sustainability (Albala, 2013). Sustainability, at its core, is about meeting our present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs (Butler Harrington, 2016). It encompasses four main components: Economic, environmental, social, and cultural sustainability (Lazar & Chithra, 2022). These elements work in tandem to ensure that food production systems are ecologically viable, economically feasible, and socially equitable. Especially in the West, the lexicon of sustainability has become intertwined with that of gastronomy, particularly over the last three decades (Corvo, 2015), when a new demand for food began to emerge, distancing itself from mass productions, often lacking specific ties to the territories, and being increasingly interested in those products able to communicate history, a sense of place, and cultural values (Cucinotta & Pieroni, 2018). Small-scale, local productions, with a deep history and embedded in the life of communities’ food production, were recognized as a piece of cultural heritage—a product transmitted from generation to generation, […] constantly recreated by communities and groups in response to their environment, their interaction with nature and their history, and [able to provide] them with a sense of identity and continuity, thus promoting respect for cultural diversity and human creativity. (Scovazzi, 2012, p. 179, see also, Smith & Akegawa, 2009) Considering this, however, new questions emerge concerning traditional food productions, their future, impact on the local environment, actual possibilities of development, and the maintenance of the meanings and practices that characterize and make them unique in the eyes of the community. Through a case study related to the process of rediscovery, reintroduction, and heritagization of the pink asparagus of Mezzago, in Italy, this chapter aims to provide the reader with an initial tool to reflect on some key questions related to both the very nature of food as a gastronomic heritage, and the relationship and impact that the safeguarding and promotion of a food heritage can allow