Slow Food and "Zero kilometres" menu

It is still possible to eat healthy and in a sustainable way.
But...how?
Inspired from the “Slow Food” philosophy, which was born in Italy to fight against the modern “Fast Food” style, in Venice and its region Veneto the local agriculture association, Coldiretti, started a few years ago the "zero kilometres menu" project, an initiative to improve the consume of the agriculture products of the Veneto countryside, basically it means from the product to the final costumer in as less kilometres as possible.

Coldiretti, via a popular referendum, has implemented a system which goals are to reduce transportation expenses and environmental impact provocated by the pollution and traffic.
The basic idea is to stimulate the purchase of local and seasonal agriculture products in order to reduce the energetic consume and the carbonic anhydride linked with the transportation of aliments which have been travelling thousands of miles before arriving to our tables!!!
The "zero kilometres" initiative got an unexpected legal success: it took only four months to collect 25.000 signatures, necessary to ask the Veneto government a new law to promote food with seasonal and local origin in the public canteens (hospitals, schools, universities, old people’s homes).
The request was accepted and became regional law in July 2008.
Nowadays in Veneto more and more restaurants, ice cream shops, pubs and little markets bet on this project, committing to use and sell at least 30% of the products coming from the local country side.

In order to transform this initiative in a successful one it also takes the citizens to get involved, thinking for instance that buying kiwis from New Zealand is not sustainable for our planet, when there are very good quality kiwis in Verona, less than 100 miles from Venice.
It is necessary to recover the old habits, when people ate the products from the earth in a certain period of the year.
We think that all this is good for the travellers, who because of the local typical products get more chances to discover the history and the culture of Veneto.
Enjoy the "zero kilometres menu"!
Ciao
ItalianFeelings