Truffle Inclusive: the Numero Zero restaurant project
The Numero Zero Restaurant project is one of the activities within the Città del Sole foundation. Can you briefly tell us how the Foundation was born and what its mission is?
Città del Sole was founded in June 1998 to develop innovation in the psychiatric and social fields through the construction of projects that move within what is identified as Community Psychiatry, accompanying people with mental disorders in alternative life paths to institutionalization. At this time, in addition to Numero0 – a restaurant that employs a workforce composed of over 50% people with mental disorders supported by catering professionals and supervised by a clinical staff, we have several active projects:
Progetto P.R.I.S.M.A. (Mental Health and Autonomy Research-Intervention Program) works to build a network of “normal” situations of residential, employment, sociality in which subjects in charge of Mental Health Services find quality answers to their needs. Involving a variety of public and private, individual and collective entities, with P.R.I.S.M.A. we develop and implement inclusive 24-hour life projects for people with severe and medium-severe mental disabilities that are strongly oriented towards autonomy and self-determination, according to principles of recovery and Community Psychiatry. The model revolves around “living in one’s own home”, a fundamental social determinant of health and well-being and a prerequisite for development and self-realization. Each of the 10 patients currently in the care of the Fondazione La Città del Sole lives in an apartment with roommates with a housing need, who are granted free accommodation and condominium fees in exchange for living together.
Keeping the focus on the P.R.I.S.M.A. model, in February 2019 the Fondazione La Città del Sole activated the FuoriPorta Psychiatric Day Center. The project was built in an innovative way for the territory, looking for the right property, for structural characteristics and geographical location, to create an experience that could go beyond the limits of the CDP model. FuoriPorta, designed as a large container of activities and people, is located in a building of high architectural value located in one of the historic districts of the city, Borgo XX Giugno. A place that originally lost its connotation of a health facility to become a social-health and socio-cultural facility, a laboratory for the city of Perugia in the historic center. The next step led the Foundation staff to identify the right way to make the structure live even outside the opening hours of the CDP (from Monday to Saturday from 9.00 to 18.00). Thus Numero Zero was born, the first inclusive restaurant in Umbria.
PerSo – Perugia Social Film Festival PerSoFF is an international documentary film festival on social issues, whose VIII edition will be held in Perugia from 1st to 9th October 2022. Created with a view to inclusion and overcoming prejudices on mental disability, it narrates the social and mental disability through different angles, with one of the most complete and fascinating languages: cinematographic and documentary. The aim of the Festival is to narrate, through the cinema of reality, the world of social issues in its broadest sense and in its most varied articulations, with attention to the innovative languages of documentary and its ability to bring different genres into dialogue; with the constant aim of bringing a vast audience closer to the stories and themes addressed.
Stazione Panzana. The narrow-gauge radio. Stazione Panzana is a web radio that has its own recording studios inside the FuoriPorta Psychiatric Day Center. The editorial team is made up of people with mental disabilities reported by the Mental Health Services of the territory, supported by communication experts and social educators acting as social-health mediators. The aim of the project is to allow people with mental problems to enter an inclusive and virtuous communication circuit, providing an opportunity for training and valorization of personal talents, also through the activation of relationships and creating opportunities to meet with citizens that allow us to fight the stigma that accompanies mental health.
Our mission is to promote true inclusion, and therefore operate not only on the living conditions of disadvantaged subjects, but on the context in which they live and on the way of thinking about diversity by the so-called “normal” ones. Diversity is the expression of a common existential and social discomfort that requires not only technical interventions, but social experiences that involve the most diverse subjects for a common goal: a more liveable world for everyone. Our projects therefore move from Health to Culture, trying to fill everything in between with meaning.
People with psychiatric disabilities find in work and in their food contacts a way to integrate into the community and free themselves, is that right?
Yes, that’s right. “Italy is a democratic Republic founded on work”. These are the first words established by our constituent assembly, the meaning of which is to link the dignity of citizens to the performance of a work activity. Having a job means entering adulthood in full, having the ability to take on a role, take on responsibilities, walk towards an independent life and towards emancipation. When we talk about people with mental disorders, work takes on many more meanings and becomes a call to develop knowledge, skills and behaviors that contribute to one’s self-determination and to the knowledge of one’s limits and resources. Work is certainly a tool that can, through the monthly salary, ensure a certain economic independence necessary for the autonomy of the person and therefore encourage the individual to leave a protected context such as the family. Therefore, speaking of meanings, work is not only important for the person who experiences it, but it is fundamental for the community because it redesigns new imaginaries and, thanks to direct experience, makes it possible to break down prejudices and stereotypes around people with mental disorders. The experience of Numero Zero is a concrete example of how work can be a powerful tool for integration and personal growth for people with mental disorders. A place capable of triggering an authentic sense of belonging and recognizing true dignity through paid work, a fundamental cornerstone for building adult identity.
We were very struck by the claim on the Numero Zero website: “the taste of inclusion”. Food is a great glue between people. Could T&C truffle have contributed to getting kids interested in T&C products?
The table, especially in this country, is the first important space for socializing and meeting. The social role of catering is profound and goes beyond simply feeding others, acting as a vehicle to promote encounters, create communities, educate about nutrition and the promotion of local products. Involving people with mental disorders in the creation of dishes, in the preparation and use of excellent ingredients such as T&C truffles helps fuel the passion for careful cuisine that is aware of the importance of using fresh, high-quality and prestigious products such as those of T&C.
Question for one of the project participants. Do you like truffles? Did you enjoy making recipes with your friends?
The entire kitchen staff answers this question. We like truffles and we were especially impressed by the almonds and salt, it was curious and fun to think about how to put these ingredients to good use. With the other products we had a harder time combining them because we generally don’t use preparations. However, it’s always nice for us to explore new products, come up with new culinary ideas and fantasize together, especially when the base is made of ingredients like truffles, a product that tells a lot about our beloved central Italy and that we like very much. Thanks T&C!
