Interview with the creators of Foodmetti

Food and comics have more elements in common than people think. Giuseppe Camuncoli, Cristiano Tomei and Carlo Spinelli are well aware of this and, in collaboration with saldaPress and the agricultural and food and wine companies of our territory, have started a project that unites these two worlds. His name is Foodmetti and was presented during Lucca Comics and Games 2022, through a series of initiatives that have opened the doors to the public on a combination that few had so far experienced with such audacity. Here is the interview that Cultura POP did with the creators of Foodmetti, thanks to which it was possible to learn more details about the project.



Foodmetti

Interview to the creators of Foodmetti

Foodmetti was born spontaneously from a group of friends as we are, thanks to the union of our passions. On the one hand, I'm the one who makes comics, but I love to eat, and that's why I met the kitchen of chef Cristiano Tomei; on the other hand there is him who I discovered to be fond of comics. So they are two poles that have naturally attracted each other. At the beginning it started as a simpler collaboration then, in parallel Marco Marastoni began to develop the idea of ​​making a saldaPress spicy oil and chatting with friends, we realized that actually in the world of comics and in that of food c 'were already products heading in the direction of a binomial between them. For example, the Beer Revolution comic by Sualzo and Teo Musso, or Baladin's Tonica Paprika, a drink with a label designed by Mirka Andolfo. In short, these marriages between the art of comics and the art of comics were in the air, so we thought of creating Foodmetti also addressing Lucca: making a house to collect these products that have to do as much with one as with the another, in this case in the space of Atelier Ricci and Franklin '33. | ] adding zone: tag crm_srl-th_culturapop_d_mh3_1 slot id: th_culturapop_d_mh3 "); } In fact, these days the presentation of Foodmetti products within the context of Lucca Comics and Games 2022: on the one hand in the rooms of the Atelier Ricci, where an informative and experiential journey made up of taste and comics was presented; on the other hand, within Accanto @ Franklin '33, where the products of the drink range were offered served by exceptional guests, i.e. the same artists who created the illustrations for the packaging (Giuseppe Camuncoli himself, but also CB Cebulski, Mirka Andolfo, Lorenzo De Felici). However, Foodmetti does not limit itself to gathering the products already made around this name, also getting involved with the design of new recipes and new illustrated graphics.

What unites cooking and comics

Chef Cristiano Tomei is the mind behind the development of the new Foodmetti products, experimenting with combinations of taste that can combine the art of comics. Among these were the Bis Pizza, pizza-flavored and slightly spicy butter biscuits dedicated to Spider-Man, and the Gamma Mayo, a vegetable mayonnaise with black cabbage powder that takes up the typical Hulk coloring. On the other hand, it is a hybridization that brings together two worlds which, as confirmed by chef Tomei, share numerous aspects:

These are two languages ​​which, when well done, are equally transversal. Cooking is liked by all ages, as well as comics, we have seen it these days in Lucca with both young and adult visitors. Comics then, like cooking, use a "simply complex" language: comics often refer to Greek tragedy in its narrative scheme, cooking in the same way is articulated around origins that were once those of needs or rituals . Or again, the superheroes of comics are not just men with superpowers, but individuals with a particular sensitivity that allows them to understand the needs of others. In the world of food the same thing happens with chefs, who do not invent anything, but put their experience into what they create by listening to the needs of others. Then I think that the parallelism with error is also very important: in the kitchen making mistakes is necessary, in comics even superheroes often question themselves.



Marco Marastoni (saldaPress) also spoke during the meeting with the creators of Foodmetti:

I also believe that both cooking and comics are constantly evolving. Recipes change according to the seasons, but also based on the experience and experience of the chef, so even comics change over time: today a designer certainly does not draw as he did when he was twenty, his style has evolved and is adapted.

Something not to be forgotten is also the characteristic of comics and cooking to unite individuals, cultures, distant countries. A point on which Cristiano Tomei has returned with transport:

Comics and food know no barriers or borders. Spider-Man is known all over the world, and so is pizza. The latter is even capable of overcoming religious limits, for example. To understand how much food has no barriers, it would be enough to think of the most typical dish of Lucca: the tordelli, which arrived here thanks to a Monsù of Naples commissioned by Lucca to represent its greatness. But there are many examples: Buccellato, which is a sweet bread from Lucca, has Middle Eastern roots; the strudel is prepared with crazy dough, which is the basis of many desserts in Lebanon; spaghetti comes from the Muslim populations who dominated Sicily, just as the Ligurian fidelini come from the Iberian peninsula. These are evidences of how food unites and our project is moving in that direction. Comics and cooking are sharing.

The future direction of the Foodmetti initiative

One of the objectives that emerged from this meeting with the creators of Foodmetti is certainly to carry on the project in the coming years with new food and wine proposals and artistic. However, there seems to be a desire to expand Foodmetti also through dissemination in schools, as explained by Marco Marastoni:

One of our goals has always been from the very beginning to reach schools. The visual arts of comics are an ideal and clear direct means to convey concepts related to food even to the youngest. It's something we will definitely be working on starting next year.

In addition to the creation of food and wine products related to comics, an action plan aimed at the reverse operation could even be implemented, that is to write and draw comics that have to do with food, a goal confirmed by Giuseppe Camuncoli and about which we are curious to find out what will be the upcoming titles within Foodmetti.

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