Local Bottega Alimentare

Today my classmates and I visited a very innovative shop here in the historic center of Bra called Local – Bottega Alimentare.  Local was a dream of Carlo Petrini put into action by a couple of savvy UNISG grads exactly one year ago today.  They longed for a return to the small neighborhood food shops that once provided an essential point of communication between the community, the shopkeeper, and food.  In addition, they wanted to provide small, local producers a place in town to sell their products. Since I have talked about opening a neighborhood grocery exactly like this for a very long time, I was especially interested to find out more about how it was working here.

Local combines three basic elements that I would love to replicate in a store in the US. First of all, it is a small well-designed food shop where one is encouraged to stop by daily. They have a selection of fruits and vegetables, cured meats and cheeses, preserves and dry goods – all locally grown and produced. There is also a selection of products sold without packaging, to combat waste, and save consumers more money.

Local is also an educational arena where you can learn about local products and their producers. They host tastings where you can try the various products, aperitifs and snacks..and they host food workshops. Recent innovations include beer straight from the keg from a variety of local brewers, and an afternoon farmers market where fruit and vegetables can be sold directly from growers in the area. The support base for the shop consists of ‘Local Food Local Community’, a group of people that, from the beginning, have supported and believed in the project by committing to pay for their purchases in advance by way of a prepaid shopping card. This allows shopkeepers to better meet the needs of small producers.

Last but not least, the Local kitchen serves up small tasty plates of freshly prepared food, for lunch or just as a snack, in the shop. A lovely courtyard out back, sprinkled with bistro tables amid the vegetable and herb garden, provides another inviting area for conversation with friends over a nice bottle of wine, cold glass of craft beer, and a plate of local cheeses or cured meats … The perfect place to unwind after a long day and discuss…what else? Food.

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