The Gastronomy and Food Products of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro Valorization and Promotion Project is already underway. This project aims to safeguard and project the wealth of this region’s food culture and, ultimately, prepare an application to UNESCO’s List of Best Practices for Intangible Cultural Heritage.
The initiative, which came firstly from DESTEQUE – Association for the Development of Terra Quente, joined by CORANE – Association for the Development of the Municipalities of Raia Nordestina and DOURO SUPERIOR – Association for Development associated themselves, has the technical and scientific support of IPI Consulting Network.
The work started in February, and several research and development processes for promotion solutions, enhancement of local agents and qualification of products and services associated with this unique food culture are already in full swing. Thus, in addition to the important stimulating role for producers, hoteliers and other agents in the food economic chain, this project should promote these food and cultural resources externally, aiming for the tourist and economic development of the Portuguese Northeast.
This project is co-financed by the Support Line for the Tourist Enhancement of the Interior, by Turismo de Portugal, and its main objective is to value and promote the specificity, typicality and quality of products and gastronomic dishes in the region of Trás-os-Montes and Alto-Douro, particularly in the municipalities that integrate the three associations promoting the project: Alfândega da Fé, Bragança, Carrazeda de Ansiães, Ash of Espada à Cinta, Macedo de Cavaleiros, Miranda do Douro, Mirandela, Mogadouro, Torre de Moncorvo, Vila Flor, Vila Nova de Foz Côa, Vimioso and Vinhais. It has also had the support of the Regional Agriculture Directorate of the North, an entity with a deep knowledge of this reality in its most elementary expression of production, distribution circuits and associated traditions, as well as its certification.
The initiative, we recall, was publicly presented in April 2016, in a session that counted with the participation of the three development associations and the thirteen municipalities involved, and a Commission of Honor of the Candidacy was also announced, chaired by the distinguished Professor Adriano Moreira. On the occasion, the State Councilor underlined that « gastronomy is one of the factors that value the relationship with the land, of the people who live close to the land, who know the past, the present, and the future that they aspire for people. From them can come the main answer to the most serious challenges of our time, to which the will of the people of Trás-os-Montes responds rather than breaking than twisting. They deserve the respect and gratitude of the community of this Portuguese land where we were honored to be born. »
Among the many actions that this project proposes to implement – such as the development of a graphic identity, research processes and documentary collection, carrying out public information initiatives, awareness and training sessions, creating a website and activating social networks – there is also the preparation of requests to register these resources and endogenous assets in the List of Traditional Portuguese Products of the Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development, in addition to the aforementioned Application to UNESCO.
One of the steps already taken, in order to collect contributions and content from the public and subscribers to a newsletter, was the creation of a microsite, available to all who want to contribute or receive the news of the project and other information on this tasty theme. The organization invites, as such, to visit this online introduction to the project, at https://ipicnprojetos.wixsite.com/gastronomia-tmad
After public tender, the project was commissioned to the IPI Consulting Network and InfoPortugal companies, which have been engaged in different work fronts, such as the preparation of applications and the development of actions, and multimedia solutions including the website. The IPI team is coordinated by Professor Carlos Laranjo Medeiros, an anthropologist who has already coordinated other successful projects such as the elevation of Cante Alentejano to Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity and includes, among other experienced technicians, Dr. Patrícia Cordeiro, a sociologist who recently led the process of raising the Caretos de Podence to the same status. InfoPortugal develops digital content and technological solutions, integrating the Impresa group since 2007 and presenting relevant know-how in projects such as the development of the portals Historical Villages of Portugal, Amar o Minho or Magic Mountains, Rota do Românico, among many other cases of successful digital presences. This team will be coordinated by Dr. Ana Leite, graduated in Plastic Arts and Master in Multimedia, who is part of InfoPortugal where she has coordinated other projects of a similar nature.
The visual identity work is one of the aspects of this project in which the results are also already visible, having already been defined the official logo, by the graphic designer Sofia Neves, which we reveal here.
