Olitalia, one of the guest stars in the third edition of the forum on olive oil and the catering industry

Olitalia was one of the guest stars taking part in this important event, where experts exchanged their ideas and proposals for the world of olive oil and the catering industry. Gianni Tognoni, Sales&Marketing Director at Olitalia, illustrated the core idea of Olitalia's project “I Dedicati” to an attentive and hands-on audience: the cornerstone of this project is that oil is not all the same, but it is a natural element changing over time.

A lot of stereotypes must be broken, and the role of the chefs involved in the definition of different organoleptic profiles has been crucial. A technical confirmation of this statement about the changeability of olive oil was given by Marcello Scoccia, oil specialist and consultant at Olitalia, who highlighted how oil changes at every harvest. Furthermore, the peculiar feature of “I Dedicati” is that different types of olive oils and their organoleptic profiles have been selected and defined to find the perfect match between oil and meat, fish, pasta or vegetables.

Several issues were discussed during the event, which saw the participation of the best chefs and professionals from Horeca (the Hospitality Industry), such as the difficulties that oil specialists and producers encounter when they try to illustrate the special features of an olive oil to restaurateurs.
Tognoni maintained that this issue needs to be dealt with by breaking the stereotypes and the idea that every restaurateur has his or her own oil coming from the oil mill that is "just around the corner".

According to Olitalia and its philosophy, it is possible to communicate effectively to the chefs only by training them, and promoting an authentic culture of olive oil. Price was also at the centre of the debate, as it is quite a complicated and thorny topic: "what is the right price of extra virgin olive oil?".
Marcello Scoccia answered that there is no minimum or right price of oil, but there are many variables affecting how it is set.

During the final remarks, Tognoni explained his point of view about the main topic of this edition, that is the introduction of an olive oil cart in restaurants: he highlighted that there are some limitations to consider for the right preservation of oil, and that giving advice on what type of oil to use for each dish would be undoubtedly an added value.

The event was a worthwhile exchange of views, and Olitalia's philosophy was extensively illustrated.