Grom

Grom 

Via agonal 3 corner Piazza Navona - 00186 Rome

During our food tour of Rome in the beginning of the semester, we were taken to a famous Gelato shop called Grom. In comparison to the other Gelato shops, Grom is famous for representing sustainable foods, biodegradable products and composting all of their trash. There is a website that explains their strict philosophy on improving our earths health in addition to the original Grom website. 

www.Gromlovesworld.it

In our food and culture class we have learned about the importance of the Slow Food movement in Italy. Countless restaurants and Gelato shops solely buy their ingredients from small farms and only want food that is harvested organically. Groms gelato contains no added color, flavorings or preservatives. Much of the food in the United States is packed with food dyes and preservatives to make it taste better and last longer. Unfortunately, that is why America is the #1 obese country. It is interesting to see a Gelato shop rise against unhealthy foods and provide the public with an honest healthy dessert. In addition to their dedication to organic products, Grom prides itself on purchasing ingredients from the parts of the world in which they are naturally grown. For example, the buy the cocoa and coffee from farmers in Central America, to assure that money is given fairly back to the farmers and the ingredients are fresh. 

Walking into Grom the shop was flooded with large families. Unlike other Gelato shops, which are usually occupied by groups of two or three young adults to elderly couples. Because of Grom’s healthful and positive message, it seems to have attracted Italian parents. From what I have observed, Italian parents do a phenomenal job of teaching their children about healthy eating from a young age. As I stood in Piazza Navona, I counted about 1 out of 30 people that were obese, and every person that was obese, was a tourist, most likely American. In Grom I could hear the children screaming and alerting their parents of the flavors they wanted to order.

I listened to an Italian family prepare to order -

“Cioccolato!!! Fondente!! Con Stracciatella!” 

“No no no Fragola e Yogurt”

In addition to picking the healthy option for Gelato consumption, the child’s parents limited him to the sorbet flavors for the health benefits. The longer I sat there I noticed that the majority of Italians that came in ordered the Sorbet flavors, children and parents  alike.

When I began to observe the tourist families I noticed that it did not matter what flavor the child ordered. Mainly the American and British families that were ordering were concentrated on having their children order in a productive and orderly fashion, rather than being concerned with which flavor their child was about to indulge in. The majority of tourist children ordered the creamy flavors, such as Cioccolato and Crema. 

Another aspect of Grom that sets them aside from other Gelateria’s is their presentation. All other Gelato shops I have visited in Italy show off their flavors by overflowing the containers and decorating the bins they are in with fruit and candy. Grom keeps their gelato in small metal containers with small labels explaining what each flavor is. The customers do not see the flavors before being served. I tried to understand why they would not want to boast and present their delicious ice cream to consumers. Perhaps, the presentation could distract the customers from their message. The store was covered with posters explaining how they have replaced all of their plastic for biodegradable and compostable material, all paper is recycled to save the forrest and all of the fruit is grown organically. It seems that their presentation is not about the gelato, but about how we as human beings should be more concentrated on the earth, rather than how beautiful we can make gelato look. 

Sources -
"Grom Loves World." Grom Loves World. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Dec. 2013.
"Grom." Grom. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Dec. 2013.