Safeguarding the Earth’s resources is probably the most important challenge facing us in the near future. Cuisine plays a key role in sustainable development as it is linked to several key factors, such as the preservation of biodiversity and responsible consumption. This was discussed at the Parma Green Week event entitled “Tradition and Sustainability: flavor journey between research and innovation” held yesterday afternoon at the Ape Museo. In particular, the focus was on one of the excellences of our area: Parma ham, and how its production is adapting to the tasks of sustainability that the present is imposing on us with increasing force. After an introduction by Marisa Fumagalli, journalist for Corriere della Sera, Federico Galloni, vice president of the Parma Ham Consortium, spoke and gave an overview of the situation. “Among our projects is the one we are doing with the Milan Polytechnic University to create software that will give a general mapping of a significant number of ham factories in order to measure how much from year to year we manage to decrease in terms of environmental impact.” Other issues affecting ham production include that of plastic trays. “We had alternative, easier-to-recycle packaging from three categories tested on the ham: Bioplastic, single-material pet, and variegated paper,” explained Tania Toscani, of the Parma Ham Consortium’s Research and Quality Office. “With the latter, we recorded the best results, and we will probably move more and more toward conversion to trays of this type in the future. Finally, Riccardo Forapani, chef de cuisine of the “Cavallino” restaurant in Maranello, spoke, explaining some sustainable cooking techniques. “We noticed, in our restaurant, a large surplus of bread due to leftover baskets. So we decided to recover it, dry it, making a fermented bread stock.”