July, 5th 2022
(by Lorenzo Biscontin) What’s more tangible than a juicy Florentine steak? Yet a few days ago the Florentine steak became the first NFT (Non Fungible Token) dedicated to an emblematic dish of Italian cuisine, minted by the Italian Wine Crypto Bank ..
Another example demonstrating how the hybridization between the physical and digital realms is spreading more and more in our lives.
If you are already turning up your nose thinking of something “fake”, virtual, you will have to change your mind because here we are talking about real Florentine steaks 4 fingers high and cooked only rare.
For those of you who, like me, are lost I try to explain it as clearly as possible.
Let’s start by clarifying what an NFT (Not Fungible Token) is: it is a digital certificate (token) that proves the authentic and unique ownership of a non-fungible digital asset by a person. Usually the NFT is linked to a digital image / work of art.
The inviolability of the property is guaranteed by the system called blockchain. I’m not going to explain how does blockchain works because it would be like exposing the principles of thermodynamics to explain someone how to drive a car.
It is much more useful to understand what to do with the NFT of the Florentine steak created by the artist Gianluca Biscalchin and enriched by the text of the sommelier Andrea Gori.
First of all as a digital souvenir. The COO of Italian Wine Crypto Bank defined it as the 3.0 equivalent of the stickers that tourists bought in the places they had visited to remember them and communicate their experience to everyone.
I agree with the logic, but perhaps the vision is a bit reductive. I would compare it more to the works of art that travelers on the Grand Tour bought from antique dealers or in the shops of local artists for their aesthetic content as well as the memory and testimony of the travel experience.
The beauty of digital tools, however, is that they have a wider range of possibilities than analog ones and NFTs are no exception thanks to the “utilities” that can be incorporated into the certificate.
In the case of the Florentine steak NFT there are several.
The main one is the code that allows you to book a meal with a Florentine steak accompanied by a bottle of Chianti Classico “Villa Calcinaia” within one year of purchase in some of the most popular restaurants in Florence: Ristorante Cammillo, Cibrèo, Trattoria da Burde, L’Ora d’Aria restaurant, Regina Bistecca, Tullio in Montebeni.
Then you also receive a free copy of “La fiorentina. Hosts, butchers and wines of the real steak ” by Aldo Fiordelli, in Italian and English edition.
Latest utility, a specially discounted price for two people for a visit with tasting at the Villa Calcinaia winery and individual lesson on how to cook the perfect Florentine steak at Florence MaMa cooking school.
The cost of all this? 250 euros converted into eWB, the cryptocurrency minted by Italian Wine Crypto Bank, or the equivalent in any cryptocurrency you have, at the exchange rate.
If you are not familiar with cryptocurrencies, IWCB takes care of opening and managing the necessary digital wallet.
What if the value of the cryptocurrency drops? The kilo of Florentine and the bottle of Calcinaia wouldn’t shrink, so you still get what you paid for.
Actually, the value of the eWB is very stable because it is linked to that of the best Italian wines selected by the sommelier Anna Paclet and purchased by IWCB for its customers. The average annual revaluation of the stock, according to the Liv-Ex index, was between + 9% and + 13% per years.
So, there is the case that in a few months you will be able to sell the NFT of the Florentine steak to yourself and make a profit.
But if I were you, I would give up speculation and enjoy my steak and wine.
