MEDITERRANEAN FOODSCAPE
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In the first chapter, the player takes on the role of a young chef-planner called upon to intervene in an increasingly fragile Mediterranean food system. The seas are under increasing pressure, many foods travel thousands of kilometers before reaching the table, and some local traditions are at risk of disappearing from everyday menus. The player must understand that every food choice has consequences that go beyond the individual meal and involve the environment, local economy, public health, and the cultural identity of the regions.
In the second chapter, the player enters the kitchen and chooses one of six available operational contexts: a trattoria on the Adriatic coast, a school cafeteria in the Apulian hinterland, a European institutional dinner, a farm surrounded by olive groves, a kitchen for patients and the elderly, or a food stand at a village festival. Each scenario has a specific budget, a different audience, and concrete constraints. A menu suitable for tourists in a coastal town cannot be designed with the same criteria used for a school, hospital, or folk festival.
The player must compose a complete menu by selecting an appetizer, first course, second course, side dish, dessert, and drink. Each dish is evaluated across eight dimensions: seasonality, short supply chain, marine conservation, waste reduction, nutritional value, affordability, gastronomic heritage, and ability to convey the territory. Decisions cannot be based solely on taste or price: environmental sustainability, food quality, economic feasibility, and the valorization of local identities must be balanced.
In the third chapter, service begins and the menu is put to the test by unexpected situations. A heat wave can compromise the supply of certain ingredients, a busload of visitors can arrive unannounced, a vegan delegation can sit at the tables of the institutional dinner, and a health inspector can check the amount of waste produced by the kitchen. The player thus discovers that a sustainable menu must not only work on paper but must be able to withstand the pressures of the real world.
At the end of the service, the game returns an overall score and identifies the strengths and weaknesses of the proposed menu.