8th Edition of Euro Global Conference on Food Science and Technology | FAT 2026

Dear participants of the Conference, It is a great honor and pleasure to welcome you with a few opening remarks to the 8th Euro-Global Conference on Food Science and Technology (FAT-2026), taking place from September 16–18, 2026, in Rome, Italy. Welcome to FAT2026. It is both an honor and a great responsibility to welcome you to this event, which over the years has become a European and global benchmark for innovation in food science and technology. In recent years, as Chair, I’ve had the privilege of closely observing the ferment of ideas, the connections across disciplines, and above all, the shared desire to go beyond known boundaries. Today, however, I invite you to take a further step: not just beyond, but elsewhere—because hunger is not the same for everyone, because the mind is not a standard model to be measured, and because food—what we put on the plate—is not just nutrition: it is language, experience, recognition. As I will present in my new research focus during this 2026 edition, I urge you to consider dis(ability) not as something to be corrected, but to be listened to; to see and re-see in the color, the shape, the sound of food, new codes for sensory inclusion. And I invite you—as scientists, technologists, educators, and designers—to embrace a shared challenge: to make nutrition a place of connection, not just regulation. It is no coincidence that the food industry, as a hub of research and development, holds the key to tackling these issues—where the integration of all sectors is essential to develop new, competitive solutions aimed at improving the field. Being “human” is an exhausting task, and to succeed in this way of being, we must set ourselves the goal of promoting a metamorphosis of thought—a physiological transformation that brings about real change, even in attitudes—through the creation of pathways that support the food process as the most suitable space for growth for all involved actors. A narrative and functional vision based on the individual and the interpretation of their needs will be the foundation for future success. “There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance.” (Socrates). If man survives, everything will depend on how and how much he will have learned to learn, to communicate but, above all, to know how to eat!