What do you think of our Balsamic Vinegar series of posts? Please send us your comments at the bottom of each post.We love Mario Gambigliani - he has made himself completely available for Italian Food Lovers, and taught us everything we needed to know about Modena tradition and Acetaia operations in the production of DOP Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena. Thank you Mario!

And we are very lucky: not only is Mario’s family a producer of Traditional Balsamic Vinegar for more than a century and an half, but he also is one of the top experts in Italy for Balsamic Vinegar, and Chairman of the Consorzio for Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena, the certification body for balsamic DOP certification. So we couldn’t have had a better guide in our exploration of balsamic vinegar!

Before leaving Villa Magnolia, the family villa where Mario keeps the top cru of his balsamic production in an acetaia under the roof (he explains why the roof in this post), and after giving us a few tips on how to properly perform balsamic vinegar tasting the professional way, Gambigliani wanted to spend also a couple of words on his relationship with Academia Barilla as an artisan producer and production partner. Check out the video here below.

Academia Barilla is very active in supporting local farmers and producers of traditional Italian gourmet products. By partnering with several production districts across Italy, Academia Barilla aims to preserve and promote not only the production of gourmet regional specialties, but also the local traditions in making such gourmet delights.

This approach to the so-called Corporate Social Responsibility, a step ahead the more popular concepts of fair trade or corporate social sponsorship / charity, consists in a dedicated support to local artisan producers with long-term partnership agreements, focused not on merely production volumes, but on a profitable growth for the producers, their markets and their capabilities to sell their products.

Academia Barilla fully supports its network of local farmers and producers with all its knowledge on food markets and an actual worldwide commercial and distribution structure, so that producers can focus on the quality of products, and an organic growth of their local production business.

For its effective business model and the consequent positive social impact, Academia Barilla has been recently recognized by the Harvard Business School as a business case model. Harvard Business published an Harvard Business Case on Academia Barilla, which has been presented in Boston last month, as reported in one of Carla’s previous posts.

I definitely need to come back on the Corporate Social Responsibility topic in the future blogging activity, we even started a tag on the subject, so you can track the subject easily.

More recognitions to speak on here on the Barilla world after the Best of the Blogs award awarded to Italian Food Lovers at the end of December 2006, and the publication of an Harvard Business Case on Academia Barilla by the Harvard Business School at the beginning of this year.

A couple of weeks ago Forbes.com and the NYC research firm Reputation Institute published a worldwide consumer research study, in which Barilla Holding (Academia Barilla’s parent company) has been awarded as the World’s Most Respectable Company.

We published a press release last Friday about this important recognition, which I want to re-publish here for you italian Food Lovers. Here we go.

Barilla Holding Celebrates Forbes.com’s Recognition as “World’s Most Respected Company”

After recently being celebrated with a dedicated Harvard School Business Case Study, Barilla Holding adds another prestigious recognition as World’s Leader in Brand Recognition and Positive Customer Interaction, according to Forbes.com and NYC’s Reputation Institute.

Parma, Italy (PRWEB) February 5, 2007 – Italian food group Barilla Holding is recognized as the “World’s Most Respected Company” after a worldwide survey released by Forbes.com in conjunction with the Reputation Institute, an independent American consulting firm.

The prestigious Forbes.com recognition is the latest accomplishment to a list of successes for the Barilla Group in less than one month, after the academic examination received by the Harvard Business School, who released a Harvard Business Case on Barilla at the beginning of January. That consecration comes on the heels of a Best of the Blogs Award bestowed upon Academia Barilla’s gourmet blog Italian Food Lovers by a Canadian online media group at the end of December 2006.

The Reputation Institute announced its findings about the world’s most trustable and respectable companies in an article on Forbes.com after surveying 30,000 people around the world, and ranking 600 of the largest companies worldwide.

With annual revenue over $5 billion, a reputation score of 87.79 out of a possible 100, and a strong commitment within Corporate Social Responsibility, Barilla Holding ranked number 1 in the Forbes.com/Reputation Institute Survey, with other companies such as Lego, Ikea, Samsung and Tesco following in the top ten.

Among the food industry companies, Ferrero joined the top ten ranking eight, following Kraft Food, the only US company who made it in the top 10 of the Forbes.com/Reputation Institute’s World’s Most Respectful Company Survey.

“Barilla and Lego have become icons because they have managed their corporate reputation in a systematic and holistic manner, balancing the interests of all stakeholders. They have earned trust, respect and admiration through all their actions over time, not just clever branding campaigns,” said Dr. Charles Fombrun, Executive Director of Reputation Institute, the private consulting and research firm who partnered Forbes.com for the worldwide survey.

Ilaria Rossi, Director of Marketing of Academia Barilla, added that “Barilla has always been a brand name that is associated with quality products and gourmet lifestyle. At Academia Barilla we’re honored to help extend Barilla’s brand outward through the web with our unique gourmet offerings – the “Italian Food Lovers” blog included.”

For more information on the Forbes.com article mentioning the World’s Most Respected Companies, please visit this link.

About Academia Barilla:

Academia Barilla is the Barilla Group company dedicated to the art of Italian gastronomic culture, with the mission to preserve, develop and promote the art of Italian cuisine and gastronomic culture around the world.

Academia Barilla preserves traditional Italian food products and their artisan producers, protecting them from imitation; develops and supports Italian culinary arts through Academia Barilla Culinary Center’s courses and education; promotes and raises worldwide awareness about the Italian gastronomic culture through events and publications.

Press Contacts for Academia Barilla:

Academia Barilla USA: Stephanie Sette: +1 847-405-7564
Academia Barilla Italy: Ilaria Rossi: +39 0521-263-826
Academia Barilla website: www.AcademiaBarilla.com
Academia Barilla’s blog: www.Italian-food-lovers.com