These days, life moves fast—and our food traditions are struggling to keep up. The flavors that once tied us to places, people, and memories are getting harder to find, lost in a haze fueled by  disconcertingly identical supermarket aisles, the lure of (packaged) convenience, and, as always, climate change. As these foods disappear from our tables, so do the stories they tell and the people they represent. 

Around the world, people are fighting to keep these food traditions alive, to protect biodiversity, to make sure indigenous knowledge doesn’t get plowed over by the next overpriced protein bar or GMO apple. It’s no surprise that in a country with as rich a food history as Italy—but who is no less immune to climate changes, monocrops, and sugary products—there’s a local movement paving the way both locally and internationally.