Small revolutionary gestures: the cooking box as an “anti-waste” manifesto: what can a cooking box teach us about social transformation? How can a seemingly minor gesture become a lever for collective change?
These questions were answered by the round table discussion “Cooking the future: when sustainability starts in the kitchen,” held today in Florence at Villa Fabbricotti, headquarters of Toscana Promozione Turistica.
In an age that demands speed, consumption, and constant control, the cooking box introduces a conscious counterpoint: turn off the flame, rely on heat, restore value to waiting. A simple gesture that opens up a different way of thinking about energy, food, and shared time.
At the center of the discussion was an object as ancient as it is surprisingly relevant today: the cooking box, which has gone from being a simple household utensil to establishing itself as a new method of cooking, capable of rethinking the relationship between energy consumption, food quality, time, and community relations in a contemporary key.
The initiative is organized by Slow Food Toscana and the Cooperativa di Comunità Filo&Fibra (see below) in collaboration with Vetrina Toscana, the Tuscany Region project that promotes food and wine tourism as a sustainable experience that fosters a sense of identity.
The cooking box, emblem of slow cooking, works by thermal inertia: the food is brought to a boil, the stove is turned off, and cooking continues slowly inside the box, naturally insulated by wool. An ancient principle that is extraordinarily relevant today, because it allows for a drastic reduction in energy consumption, limits water use, and reduces CO₂ emissions, without compromising food quality.
This cooking method is a true paradigm of circular economy applied to cooking. It saves time, freeing the cook from having to constantly monitor the stove; it reduces energy waste by turning off the flame after a few minutes; it limits the use of ready-made foods and disposable packaging. The positive impact is not only on the environment, but also on quality of life: more free time, less waste, and greater attention to the value of shared food.
Cooking thus becomes an act of care: towards food, the environment, and the community. Because sometimes the future lies in rediscovering ancient practices with a new awareness.
The sustainability of the cooking box starts with its raw materials. Local wool, a by-product of sheep farming classified as special waste, regains its dignity and function here. Alongside it, felt recovered by the wool workers of Prato is reintegrated into the production cycle, saving this noble material from disposal. Every component of the box—from the knob to the drawer, from the felt to the trivet—is designed to be disassembled, reused, and regenerated at the end of its life.
It is not recycled: it is disassembled, reintroduced, and transformed. An object designed from the outset not to become waste, embodying complete circularity.
Benedetto Rugani, a researcher at the CNR – Institute for Research on Terrestrial Ecosystems, presented a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study to demonstrate the concrete and measurable effects on the environment. The data show that using the cooking box avoids 66% to 86% of the environmental impact, depending on the indicator considered.
From a practical point of view, cooking with the cassette saves an average of 80 minutes for the preparation of a single dish. Over a ten-year period, this equates to over 400 days of free time, in addition to the energy not consumed and the financial savings resulting from turning off the hob earlier. Each meal for four people also saves around 38 cl of water, translating into over 900 liters of water saved over the lifetime of the box. On a large scale, if one million people prepared 120 meals a year in the box, the savings could reach 3,800 cubic meters of water. Cooking ten times a month in the box instead of on a gas stove would reduce emissions by up to 19 kg of CO₂ equivalent per person per year.
During the round table discussion, Francesco Tapinassi, Director of Toscana Promozione Turistica, emphasized how:
“the cooking box meets the needs of responsible tourism in contact with nature, offering a practical and ecological solution even in outdoor contexts, in line with the founding values of Vetrina Toscana, inspired by a vision of environmental, economic, social, and cultural sustainability.”
Barbara Nappini, President of Slow Food Italia, recalled how ensuring resilience and sustainability in local agri-food systems is one of the great contemporary challenges, to be addressed also through small daily gestures of choice and care. The cooking box, in addition to being a significant cultural tool, allows us to draw on traditional knowledge and practices to respond concretely to these challenges, within a holistic vision in which “everything is connected.”
Sara Selmi, a professional trainer with experience in media education, described the educational projects developed around the cooking box, which enhance historical and cultural heritage and local identity, offering a concrete way to understand and experience sustainability. Barbara Sidoti, an expert on immigration and social inclusion, reiterated that sustainability is not just a technical issue, but a system of relationships: environment, energy, work, health, and inclusion must go hand in hand.
Leonardo Torrini, representative of the Slow Food Tuscany Chefs’ Alliance, highlighted the role that chefs can play in changing society and protecting biodiversity, the landscape, and agricultural trades. Gloria Lucchesi, president of the Filo&Fibra Community Cooperative, showed how sustainability, innovation, and community can coexist and generate real value: solutions that are seemingly simple but full of civic and social significance, capable of transforming a domestic practice into a lever for collective change.
The round table established a horizontal dialogue between institutions, Slow Food, scientific research, community cooperatives, and tourism operators, highlighting how food can become a driver of social, environmental, and economic regeneration. The initiative is promoted in collaboration with Vetrina Toscana, a project of the Tuscany Region carried out with Unioncamere Toscana, under the direction of Toscana Promozione Turistica and Fondazione Sistema Toscana.
The meeting, moderated by Simona Bellocci, editor-in-chief of intoscana.it, was followed by a tasting of dishes prepared with the cooking box: pappa al pomodoro with Valdichiana aglione, ribollita, lampredotto stew with red wine and yogurt, accompanied by wines from the San Luciano winery in Monte San Savino.
Around those dishes, cooked slowly and without waste, the power of a domestic practice capable of speaking of the future became visible: a future that does not require sacrifice, but attention; not acceleration, but conscious choices. Because cooking, today, can still be a gesture capable of bringing together the environment, relationships, and a sense of limits.
“You may not be responsible for the situation you find yourself in, but you will become responsible if you do nothing to change it.”
Martin Luther King
Note:
Filo&Fibra, founded in 2018 in San Casciano dei Bagni, is a women’s community cooperative that has transformed a forgotten waste product—sheep’s wool—into an object that revolutionizes the way we cook: the Cassetta di Cottura. This natural “slow cooker” has its roots in Roman times and projects them into the future. A Slow Food Community has grown up around the box, involving chefs, producers, and citizens in a national network. In 2025, the spin-off Trame Future brings this vision to the world. The eco-design by Vanessa Chioccini is behind the Fuoco di Lana Cooking Box, while the project evolves thanks to the collaboration with the K-Alma Association and the contribution of Andrea De Chirico, author of the new model. Awarded and recognized nationally, Filo&Fibra demonstrates that innovation, tradition, and community can change the way we cook and live.
