Following Basil with Barilla – Sponsored

A few weeks ago I’ve been invited by Barilla to Parma in Italy, where I had a possibility to experience the whole production process of their sauces and pasta. I am a curious person and I love to learn about technology, solutions and choices. This was a unique possibility, as big companies like Barilla don’t usually let random people hang out in their manufactures. I had no idea what to expect, but start from the beginning I’ll tell you that it was amazing!

I love to get up really early, as I enjoy morning light and vibe. You can imagine how excited I was when they told me that we’re going to basil fields at 7 am. I was ready at 6am. Can you imagine a huge field covered with fresh basil? It was a basil heaven and I think that no one of us wanted to leave as it smelled so beautiful. The whole idea was to follow basil on its way from the field to the jar, becoming a yummy sauce meantime. That’s why we followed a big container with basil straight to one of Barilla plants. We got cute yellow covers for clothes and protection shoes, they blow air on us, cleaned our shoes and hands and then we entered the production area. I was following basil being steamed and cleaned, going slowly through all the machines, mixing on a way with onion, garlic and tomato to produce a yummy sauce poured into a jar.

Here are a few things I learned:

– Barilla stands behind their slogan “Good for you, good for the planet”, which means that they really pay attention to the environment. Their CO2 emissions and water consumption is 32% and 63% lower than the respective average,

– all the products are 100% Italian, which is super cool and they help local farmers to increase their profitability and to stay on the market,

– they really pay attention to each basil leaf and tomato and the way they treat it after collecting from the fields is very impressive,

– production space smells like heaven and made me very hungry for pasta,

– from 2010 they reduced fat, salt and sugar in their products, which counts a lot.

Barilla is a family business which evolved within the last 120 years into something special. It’s not only production anymore, they created an academy, where they teach people about Italian food. They also created a Giocampus, which teaches kids how to exercise and eat well.

The first thing I’ve noticed was how friendly and relaxed people working there are. It’s not without a reason, as Human Rights Campaign awarded Barilla with a 100% score in the “Corporate Equality Index”. How cool is this!

The other great thing about the whole experience was that I had a chance to meet fellow food bloggers, which is always very inspiring. We were walking around basil fields first, then we were playing in wheat fields and photographing like crazy. We had a lot of pasta and ice creams on a way, as you cannot come to Italy and not eat and eat and eat.

Thank you Barilla for this opportunity!