Two examples of social inclusion linked to food: the multiethnic food truck by Altre Terre and PizzAut, the first pizzeria run by young people with autism.
Food can be a powerful tool for social inclusion. Two Italian examples demonstrate this: two realities that in recent months have launched social projects starting from the world of food. Because, as Jonathan Safran Foer says: "Nothing – not a conversation, not a handshake, not even a hug – forges a friendship as powerfully as eating together." And cooking together, we might add.
In Bologna, the food truck of Altre Terre has made its debut — the multiethnic catering company active since 2007: a small kitchen truck carrying four women from different countries with four different stories, united by a passion for cooking and a shared, strong desire for independence: Sladjana Zark from Serbia, Bunmi Oresanya from Nigeria, Eman Sulaiman from Jordan, and Ezinne Aki from Nigeria. Launched on 18 May in Piazza dell'Unità, one of Bologna's most multiethnic areas, the all-female food truck is the first milestone of Cook & Go, a project for social inclusion and intercultural dialogue run by MondoDonna Onlus, which since 1995 has been welcoming migrant women in Bologna and supporting them on their path to independence.
The four cooks, coordinated by Alberto di Pasqua, a professional chef and trainer, travel around the Bologna area bringing the dishes of their respective traditions in street food form: among them are Sladjana's burek — hand-pulled filo pastry filled with meat or cheese — and Bunmi's chin chin, small fried dough snacks, a Nigerian treat. Then there are Eman's mansaf, vine leaves stuffed with rice, and Aki's afong soup, a delicious vegetable and fish broth. A roving kitchen for Bologna that will also appear at the main street food festivals; the updated calendar is available at altreterrefood.it.
The other piece of good news is the long-awaited opening of PizzAut, the pizzeria run by young people with autism, which has opened in Cassina de' Pecchi, in the Milan hinterland. The project of Nico Acampora — president and founder of PizzAut and father of Leo, a child with autism — finally came to life on a symbolic date: 1 May, Workers' Day. Winners of the Premio inclusione 3.0 2021 dell'Università di Macerata, the PizzAut team and Acampora, during the long months of delay caused by the pandemic, also launched the PizzaAutBus, a food truck with which they offered their — by all accounts — delicious gourmet pizzas with amusing names, such as the "Dpcm". During the tour, the bus stopped outside the Montecitorio and the pizza makers served their creations to members of parliament and even to then-Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte. Proving that through food it is possible to nourish inclusion, too.