Commitment and Research for the protection of the traditions of Italian cuisine
The Accademia Italiana della Cucina was born - naturally at the dinner table, as is often the case with important things - when a group of friends, united at dinner on the 29th of July of 1953, heard and agreed with the idea which Orio Vergani had long been nurturing: that of founding an academy with the task of safeguarding, together with the traditions of Italian cuisine, the culture of the civilisation of the table, lively and active expression of the entire Nation.
The personages gathered around a table at the Hotel Diana in Milan - all qualified exponents of culture, industry and journalism - shared the belief that cuisine was not a matter of small importance, but was worthy of the highest care and attention from every cultured and intelligent person.
A cultural patrimony
Cooking is in fact one of the most profound forms of expression of a nation's culture: it is the fruit of the history and life of its inhabitants, a history which differs from region to region, from city to city, and from village to village.
Our cuisine expresses who we are, helps us rediscover our roots, develops with us, and represents us beyond our boarders. Culinary culture is also one of the forms of expression of our surrounding environment, together with landscape, art, and everything which implies the participation of a person in a context. Culinary culture is an active culture, it is the fruit of tradition and innovation, and for this reason it is something to be safeguarded and handed down to subsequent generations.
Civilisation of the table means, first and foremost, civilisation, that is to say, the whole of usages and customs, styles of life, habits and traditions shared by a certain group of people. And civilisation of taste, of that sense which is set above the pleasure of the table - that taste which can be refined, improved, and which can rediscover lost flavours and tempt the palate with new ones - means the whole of values which are handed down by a people by means of the table, and which are continuously renewed and constitute its cultural identity. Thus, safeguarding taste becomes an essential element not only for the defence of the civilisation of the table, but for the very identity of a people.