October 15-22, 2007

From the Anuga show in Cologne, Germany we will fly to Milan, Italy. You will travel by private coach throughout Northern Italy and end the tour in Rome before returning home. While in Italy you will visit and tour some of the oldest and best food companies in the world and meet their executives.

The Italy tour will focus on several key areas which we highlight below:

The benefits of a Mediterranean diet have long been advocated as a healthy way of life. The Mediterranean diet is now being touted as the model to which we should restructure our eating habits. The common Mediterranean dietary pattern has these characteristics:

• high consumption of fruits, vegetables, bread and other cereals, potatoes, beans, nuts and seeds
• olive oil is an important monounsaturated fat source
• dairy products, fish and poultry are consumed in low to moderate amounts, and little red meat is eaten
• eggs are consumed zero to four times a week
• wine is consumed in low to moderate amounts

The incidence of heart disease in Mediterranean countries is lower than in North America. Death rates are lower, too. But this may not be entirely due to the diet. Lifestyle factors (such as more physical activity and extended social support systems) may also play a part.

The Mediterranean lifestyle is about finding the perfect balance between work and leisure, food and friends. It's about enjoying life to the full - through fresh, wholesome foods, enjoyed with family and friends, and experiencing the pleasures of an active life.

Italy has given us a wealth of tradition and culture in the form of thousands of years of art, architecture, music, literature and film which we can use to romance the foods. The diversity of the foods, the profusion of Italian cookbooks being published every year and the allure of Italy itself all combine to make this smart tour to Italy a must for executives and professionals in the North American food industry.

Italy is one of the oldest and most highly regarded food brands in the world. Most food products from Italy are of the highest quality and command a premium price. Italy and Italian cuisine have been inspiring North American cooks for a very long time. In fact, Italy's reign as the most popular cuisine in North America is well into its fourth decade.

But with a strong brand identity come copy cats.

A recent study found that nine out of ten products sold on the American market as Italian were in fact produced in the USA. Italy's food exports account for $1.4 billion but the Italian wannabes take in about $3.5 billion. This forgery of Italian goods is also happening in places like Great Britain, Canada, Australia and the list goes on.

Join us on the Euro Smart Food tour and find out what Italy is doing to further build and protect their food brand.

Slow Food International is a non-profit, eco-gastronomic member-supported organization that was founded in Italy in 1989 to counteract fast food and fast life, the disappearance of local food traditions and people's dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from, how it tastes and how our food choices affect the rest of the world. Today, they have over 80,000 members all over the world.

Slow food is good, clean and fair food. They believe that the food we eat should taste good; that it should be produced in a clean way that does not harm the environment, animal welfare or our health; and that food producers should receive fair compensation for their work. You will have an opportunity to meet with some of the key people behind the slow food movement while on the Euro Smart Food Tour.

Italian cuisine is extremely varied. The country of Italy was only officially unified in 1861, and its cuisines reflect the cultural variety of its regions and its diverse history. Italian cuisine is imitated all over the world.

To a certain extent, there is really no such thing as Italian cuisine in the way that one usually understands national cuisines. Each area has its own proud specialties, primarily at the regional level, but also at the provincial level.

Italian cuisine is not only highly regionalised, it is very seasonal. The high priority placed on the use of fresh, seasonal produce distinguishes the cuisine of Italy from the imitations available in most other countries.

The basis of Italian cooking is all about preservation, or preserving the bounty of the harvest for the upcoming year. Foods that are highly perishable are transformed into foods that can be kept and transported - wheat into pasta, milk into cheese, olives into oil, and fresh pork into dozens of cured meats and sausages. On the Euro Smart Food Tour we'll examine in detail these four categories of Italian food products.

Italians are very proud of their cooking and their recipes, rooted in many different regions and traditions.

The extensive selection and tradition of cured meats in Italy, especially pork, may be the pinnacle of the country's culinary flair. The various cured meats are enjoyed as they are, simply sliced and laid out on a plate for antipasto, and they are central to the cooking. Italian dishes are very often flavored with meat even when meat does not appear as a central component of the meal.

When meat is consumed, it is more often in the form of one of the country's panoply of cured products than as fresh meat. Traditionally, the only time fresh meat was served was at butchering time, and then it was used sparingly, for the value of the pig was in its preserved form.

Nothing says Italy like its food, and nothing says Italian food like pasta. Wherever Italians have immigrated they have brought their pasta - so today it is basically an international staple. In Italy, pasta is the star of the show, with the sauce as an accompaniment.

In no other country is pasta so central to the cuisine, nor does it factor so deeply in the traditions and culture as it does in Italy. We still look to Italy as the standard for pasta quality and variety, and despite the fact that so much of the wheat used in making pasta comes from North America, the finest quality dried pasta still comes from Italy.

It is estimated that Italians eat over sixty pounds of pasta per person, per year - easily beating North Americans, who eat about twenty pounds per person. This love of pasta in Italy far outstrips the large durum wheat production of the country. Therefore Italy must import most of the wheat it uses.

Italy has long been well-known for its dairy products, with much of the focus recently centering on the much contested Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) cheeses Parmigiano-Reggiano and Gorgonzola. PDO rules could bring new export opportunities for the country's large dairy industry.

One of the world's largest dairy companies, Parmalat, is based in the Italian city of Parma. Italy makes hundreds of cheeses and is one the most important cheese making cultures in the world. Production of Parmigiano-Reggiano alone would rank Italy at the top of the international cheese pyramid. What makes cheese so important is its role in Italian cuisine.

Cheese is used in antipasto, sandwiches, pizza, soups and on salads. It's used to stuff fresh pasta, meat and poultry, melted over polenta and in risotto, and of course, to grate over cooked food.

Lentils were present on the tables of ancient Romans and are likely the oldest cultivated crops in the world. During medieval times they were mainly used by poorer social classes, and known as "the meat of poor men". Lentils and other legumes contributed to the rebirth and repopulation of Europe after the medieval famines and epidemics.

In Italian traditions, lentils are said to bring good luck, especially in money matters. In Italy, it is considered good luck to consume lentils during the dinner of the last day of the year.

Lentils are considered - thanks to the good quantity of proteins they contain - a highly nutritional food, especially when consumed together with cereals such as rice, pasta and bread. They are very digestible and have no cholesterol.

Canada is the largest exporter, and one of the top two growers, of lentils (green) in the world. Lentils are primarily grown in Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba.

Agri-tourism is a style of vacation or holidays in which hospitality is offered on farms or farmhouses. This may include the opportunity to assist with farming tasks during the visit. This new way to go on holiday, which is getting a footing more and more, has a twofold advantage: you can discover nature in all of its forms; and, you can relax your mind and restore your body by doing physical fitness activities.

The region of Tuscany is a model of agri-tourism throughout the world. The Italians have managed to preserve their farms, vineyards and olive groves. They have preserved their art and cultural treasures, as well as their landscapes.

Tuscany attracts a tourism base which has enriched their local economy including restaurants, lodging, and all kinds of shops and services. From late March to early November, the Tuscan countryside is flooded with tourists from all over the world.

Italian farmers are discovering that tourists are prepared to spend large amounts of money on vacations in rural areas. In addition to meals consumed on-site, tourists purchase locally produced wines, prepared meats, cheeses, jellies and jams, honey, baked goods, and crafts. In most cases, agricultural production remains the primary activity of the farm and agri-tourism is a secondary activity that adds value and marketing opportunities to the farm's crops and livestock production.

You will visit the Tuscany region and see agri-tourism at its very best, first-hand.