Ljubljana, 24. 6. 2020
the European Food Summit, one of
the leading European culinary events is returning to Ljubljana, Slovenia in November.
World’s top chefs and extraordinary individuals from the culinary, art and
media fields, making the world a better place through the future of food, are
coming to Slovenia between 7th and 9th November 2020.
Through their stories, they shall inspire and encourage us to think forward and
work toward a better
and more sustainable future.
Following the advice of the World Health
Organization and the strict measures taken by all different European countries,
amidst the chaos we have all been living during these last days, we have decided
to reschedule the second edition of the European Food Summit. It will be held
in Ljubljana from 7th to 9th November. The original program of the event will take place if the epidemic situation will
allow the organizer to execute the program in full. In the case of COVID-19
related restrictions, the organizer will adjust the program and the format of
the event accordingly.
The highlight of the three-day event will
be on Monday, 9th November, at a full-day Symposium. Under the baton of Ana Roš, the world's
best chef, awarded two Michelin stars and the World Tourism Organization
ambassador, as well as curator Andrea
Petrini, who is considered one of the key players in gastronomy, the
speakers with their stories will teach, inspire and encourage us to think and
work towards a better and sustainable future.
One by one, we have contacted all the
speakers from our program – the chefs, writers, wine makers, theorists,
activists, journalists - and more than 90% of them have confirmed their
presence in the fall, when we shall open our doors in Slovenia to attendants
flying from all over the world.
7th – 9th November,
that is five months from now. By then, things should be back to normal. But
will they? Will the restaurants still be welcoming guests? Will the planes be
taking off and landing regularly? Hopefully, the scare of the Big One will be
behind us. For sure we shall still be healing our wounds, trying to learn how
to recover, how to help the casualties and the little restaurants and artisans which
have been severely hit by the pandemic.
Five months from now, we should have a
clearer view, a more precise ethical stance on what happened. We believe in the
power of words, in the free circulation of ideas and human beings - much more
than just the circulation of goods. It is more important than ever to start listening
and talking, debating and nourishing each other while sharing our experiences
and trying to reboot our attitudes towards the world around us. In addition, to
upgrade this second edition of the European Food Summit to a new sort of Agora where
ideas float for a better understanding of the difficult times we all live in.
Let us be deep and serious, but if we want to be as different as chef Luka Košir’sspeech “How to be different” we better not forget a little dose of humor. Let us
pay attention to what our speaker friends have to say, such as John
Lanchester’s “Marx, Smith and Chicken McNuggets or the food industry the
days of the late capitalism”, Lisa Abend’s “Margaret Atwood was right”,
a dystopic take on the circus which the food system has become or Maria
Canabal’s theatrical mise en scène on the forecasted end of patriarchy,
“Yannicko Rex”. Let us be dead serious but also deadly fun. Times are hard and
we deserve it. We deserve to pay
attention to Nicolai Nørregard’s tip on how to bypass the male toxicity
(in the kitchens and in our lives), how to declare the war on cliché (also the
title of a remarkable collection of essays that Martin Amis published in 2001) and join Alberto
Landgraf and Nicolas Gill in their dual action to arms “Against
storytelling”. It will bring unlimited pleasure to check on stage one of the
most distinguished Canadian journalists, Marie-Claude Lortie, recently
commissioned by the European Community to study the life and times of a small
supermarket Planika in Kobarid. A village grocery, a community outpost, a local
cooperative that has been striving against the tide for decades: what does it
have to teach us all? Think local, act global. And that is exactly what we want
to do at the European Food Summit: to reconsider our legacy, our common
roots, our European identities.
In the aftermath of the outbreak, when
COVID-19 might seem just a remembrance from far away, months after the
unconcerted, isolated reactions of all the countries worldwide, shall we be
able to inject some new life into our own European reason for being and
belonging? Chef Ana Roš will present on stage “Us and then”, a survey on
the recent past and the nowness from where she and we all stand. The idea of food
at the center stage of our European Food Summit. But not only the food to fill
your bellies and doze off. We rather aim at some Food for Thought, a much more
balanced diet of Sustainable Thinking. To begin with – all together and anew.
Tickets for Symposium available here.
For any
additional information and statements, we are available at the following e-mail
address: press@foodsummit.eu.