A Friscous for The Queen

A delightful Helen Mirren stopped by our stand. The sublime, refined, and multi-award-winning English actress—already an Oscar winner for *The Queen*—greatly appreciated Friscous and wanted to know everything, absolutely everything, about our Petramarè project. The two-day festival in Melissano was also attended by Andy Luotto and the “gustosofo” Michele Di Carlo, who created a cocktail especially for the occasion. Oscar winner Helen Mirren was a guest at CiboPerBacco in Melissano. On August 7, the opening night of the festival, the Hollywood actress and her husband, director Taylor Hackford, visited the event’s stands to discover the stories and products of the guardian farmers and small local producers. The occasion was an important opportunity to share the story of the Ugento Fishermen’s Presidio and the project that links them to Slow Food. The event, organized by the local Pro Loco in collaboration with the Municipality of Melissano and under the patronage of the Slow Food Sud Salento Convivia, takes shape as a social, cultural, and food-and-wine festival aspiring to be a springboard for ideas, collaborations, and awareness. The main theme of this year was small-scale coastal fishing and its sustainability, because caring for our seas starts with defending and promoting the ancient fishing traditions that respect the environment and biodiversity. The opening evening of the 2019 edition featured the large event “Osteria Piazza Vecchia,” a very special dinner under the stars in the heart of Melissano’s Piazza Vecchia. The menu told the story of the territory through PAT, DOP, Community products, and Slow Food Presidia, all strictly local. At the beginning of the year, the “Cap Salento” project (Community of Salento Farmers and Fishermen) came to an end. It was created with the aim of protecting the environment and promoting the rediscovery of sustainable agricultural and fishing practices that safeguard small producers and products at risk of extinction. Thus was born the Slow Food Presidio for sustainable fishing in the Ugento shallows, which CiboPerBacco set out to showcase and, in its own small way, support. For the 2019 edition of CiboPerBacco, everything revolved around the “sustainable” catch of the nine fishermen of the Presidio: from Andy Luotto’s cooking show to the culinary contest featuring homemakers, enthusiasts, and all those who wanted to challenge themselves on the CiboPerBacco stage in a competition led by Luotto himself, where the winner was chosen by both a popular jury and a heavyweight technical jury. The food-and-wine route winding through the village’s narrow streets, instead, told the story of the area’s small strictly producing companies, local craftsmanship, street food, the wine square, and microbreweries, culminating in the evocative inner garden of Palazzo De Donatis with Spirits&Music, curated by the “gustosofo” Michele Di Carlo. He guided guests on a sensory journey of cocktails and spirits by Bonaventura Maschio and cigars by “Amici del Toscano.” Over the two evenings, Michele Di Carlo, Slow Food Master of Food, held two workshops: one dedicated to Bonaventura Maschio distillates paired with Amici del Toscano cigars, and another focused on the world of mixology and cocktails. For the occasion, the gustosofo created a bespoke cocktail dedicated to CiboPerBacco: *Milagro*, made with “miloncia,” GentleMate brandy white aged, *Cuettu* from the Slow Food Community of *vincotto* Primitivo, and soda.