Traditional foods and food systems: a revision of concepts emerging from qualitative surveys on-site in the Black Sea area and Italy

BACKGROUND: The European FP7 BaSeFood project included a traditional food study contextually analysing their function in local food systems to stimulate consumers’ awareness and indicate co-existence options for different scale exploitation. Background concepts were (1) the available traditional foods definitions; (2) the theoretical background of food quality perceptions; and (3) the different levels of food functions. METHODS: Field investigations were carried out by face-to-face in-depth qualitative interviews with local stakeholders, in the Black Sea region and Italy, on all aspects of traditional food production chains: raw materials, products, processes and perceptions. Critical and intercultural comparisons represented the basis of data analysis. RESULTS: Eight hundred and thirty-nine foods were documented. The direct experience perception of traditional food value observed in local contexts is somewhat contrasting with the present European tendency to communicate traditional food nature through registration or proprietary standards. Traditional foods are generally a combination of energetic staples with other available ingredients; their intrinsic variability makes the definition of ‘standard’ recipes little more than an artefact of convenience; cross-country variations are determined by available ingredients, social conditions and nutritional needs. Commercial production requires some degree of raw material and process standardisation. New technologies and rules may stimulate traditional food evolution, but may also represent a barrier for local stakeholders. A trend to work within supply chains by local stakeholders was detected. Specific health promoting values were rarely perceived as a fundamental character. The stable inclusion of traditional food systems in present food supply chains requires a recovery of consumers’ awareness of traditional food quality appreciation.