May 2008

In this issue:

Editorial by Carlo Petrini Honoring the Potato Cooking for Kids with Kiko Klub First Terra Madre Nederland White and Green Petrini Supports Anti-GM campaign in Catalonia Experiences from a Master of Beer course Teaching Sustainable Tourism in Romania Per mangiarti meglio The Gift of Bees Slow Food busy in Brazil Eyes on the Planet... New Gastronomes for UNISG New Convivia

Honoring the Potato

The UN General Assembly has declared 2008 to be The International Year of the Patato.
To celebrate this important food product, many initiatives are planned in various countries around the world. Joy Durston, leader of the Slow Food Central Victoria convivium, describes how they are celebrating in Australia.

‘Why on earth do we need an International Year of the Potato? Everyone knows about spuds—after all, there are only four varieties. Red. White. Washed. Brushed!
Ah—but we knew that wasn’t the whole story. After all, we live in the middle of a potato-growing region. Added to that, any excuse for a celebration is usually seized upon wholeheartedly.
All over central Victoria we held meetings—with chefs, agricultural forums, producer groups, schools, growers. Secret meetings, sowing seeds meetings, meetings where we muttered about the many fantastic varieties of potatoes we’d seen, grown and eaten, meetings where we salivated over the sound of the many delicious recipes we’d heard were out ‘there’, meetings with families who had grown potatoes for over five generations and even had their ‘own’ varieties.
Then the meetings became not so secret as the word got out. Primary school students planted 17 different varieties of spuds in an experimental patch. Gary Thomas devised the Spudhunter project—children were encouraged to dig deep and find buried potatoes in a huge crate of chip bark, and then identify the potatoes from a catalogue and taste test different potato-based dishes. An entire town has encouraged almost all its residents and businesses to spend three days doing nothing but cook potatoes, eat potatoes, play with potatoes, visit historic potato fields and see harvesting equipment. Another town commissioned new gateway signage—a HUGE spud!
A whole year of celebrations! How lucky are we? And being modern day citizens, we’ve been blogging our celebrations’.

Joy Durston
Leader del convivium Slow Food Central Victoria, Australia
admin@slowfoodcentralvictoria.org.au

Cooking for Kids with Kiko Klub

‘I don’t like fish!’
‘Don’t you like fish fingers?’
‘Yes, of course I do...’
‘And what are they made of?’
‘Ah, that’s right, fish!’

These were initial comments at the last meeting of Kiko Klub, the cooking club for 6 to 12-year-olds run by the German Oldenburg Convivium.
Every three months, lessons are held in which seasonal products are cooked (for example, strawberries in summer and pumpkin in autumn), and theme topics—such as potatoes, pasta and so on—explored.
The most recent lesson focused on fish. The kids learned to cook salmon and discovered some tips to recognize fresh fish: bright eyes, elastic skin, bright red gills, an aroma of the sea and not fish. After letting the kids inspect all parts of the fish, cook Michael Ditzer taught them how to make fish fingers. They cut the prepared salmon fillets into pieces and coated them with flour, egg and breadcrumbs before frying them. As a colorful side dish they prepared mashed potatoes with carrots, peas and chard, finishing off with chocolate cake.
For September a barbecue of game and mushrooms is planned in the woods.

For information, contact:
Klaus Ruwisch
Leader of the Oldenburg Convivium
oldenburg@slowfood.de

First Terra Madre Nederland

The inaugural edition of Terra Madre Nederland, is to be held from May 17 – 18 at Middelburg Abbey, The Netherlands.
Organized by Slow Food Netherlands, this meeting of Dutch and Flemish artisan and small-scale food producers is inspired by the international Terra Madre event held every two years in Turin.
‘While the food culture of The Netherlands isn’t comparable to Italy’s, there are increasing numbers of people who value good, clean and fair food. Slow Food Netherlands wants to stimulate this development, which is why we are organizing a Dutch Terra Madre based on the international model’ comments Slow Food Netherlands president Jan Wolf.
A distinctive feature of Terra Madre Netherlands is a producers’ symposium, giving growers, cheesemakers, breeders and fisherfolk the opportunity to discuss and share their knowledge and experiences.
Producers will present their products to the public at the Local Produce Piazza and a Dutch Enoteca will offer tastings of local wines and beers. Finally, a program of films in tune with Slow Food philosophy will be screened.

White and Green

As far back as 300 BC, Egyptians knew about the aphrodisiac qualities and curative properties of asparagus. Pharaoh Akhenaton and his wife Nefertiti called asparagus ambrosia (from the Greek ‘food of the gods’).
Since it was discovered how to stop the production of chlorophyll by covering the tips, we now have white as well as green asparagus. Harvesting (which lasts from mid-May to mid-June) is a time-consuming and onerous process since it is difficult to use mechanical methods. Pickers dig into the soil and cut the asparagus about 25 cm below the surface using a special knife.
Slow Food Linz is dedicating May 16 2008 to ambrosia with an excursion to Count Ledebur’s asparagus fields in Alkoven. There members will see asparagus being harvested, observe the differences between the different varieties and learn about sowing and harvesting methods. To round off the visit, there will be a tasting of four courses all made with asparagus.

For information about the event, contact:
Philipp Braun
Leader of the Linz Convivium
slowfood-linz@gmx.at

Petrini Supports Anti-GM campaign in Catalonia

On May 11 Carlo Petrini spoke at the 15th edition of BioCultura, Spain’s most important organic food fair, held in Barcelona. The Slow Food president described the movement’s philosophy from its beginnings to the present day, focusing attention on agriculture, particularly the risks associated with GMOs and the loss of biodiversity. He also took part in the meeting entitled ‘La stevia, la planta que las multinacionales de los edulcorantes pretenden ocultar’ (Stevia, the plant the artificial sweetener internationals would like to hide) together with Josep Pàmies, and organic producer and leader of the Slow Food Balaguer Convivium. The Spanish association presented a manifesto in support of stevia, a plant originally from Paraguay, with a sweetening power 200 times that of sugar but containing no calories. Its extracts have been used for centuries by South American natives and, curiously, are widespread in Japan, but can only be bought in herbalists’ shops in the US, while in Europe, except for a few countries, its sale is not permitted. Commercialization of the plant would have significant consequences for the artificial sweetening industry, dominated by producers of sugar and other synthetic sweeteners.
Pàmies, accompanied by Petrini, presented the campaign Som lo que sembrem, in support of the citizens’ bill for a GM-free Catalonia. Until Romania entered the EU, Spain was the only country allowing large-scale cultivation of GMOs.

Experiences from a Master of Beer course

Slow Food member Emanuela Daros tells us about the Master of Food course on beer organized by the Ciampino Convivium, Italy.

‘The other day I opened the fridge and saw two cans of Guinness. ‘They might go nicely in the Sunday stew,’ I thought. Until a year ago this idea would never have occurred to me. At 29 years of age, a wonderful trip to Ireland introduced me to the pleasures of beer. Then came Slow Food, and when I became a member in 2007 I discovered the Master of Food courses for specific types of food.
I enrolled in a Master of Beer course organized in Ciampino and held in a delightful pub, where I received a warm welcome from a group of local convivium members. I was pleased to find our teacher, Master Brewer Leonardo Di Vincenzo, so knowledgeable and enthusiastic. In the four evenings of the course, it was fascinating to learn about the history, cultures and traditions of such an incredibly varied product produced in so many different places. The study program helped us take our first steps as ‘tasters’ with delicate high and low fermentation beers, and then challenged us with totally unfamiliar beers (I still have a vivid memory of the spontaneously fermented Flemish beer). It was particularly intriguing to explore various combinations with food, to discover the existence of beers to sip and savor, find that some varieties are perfect as summer thirst-quenchers and that Rauchbier is a great match for smoked products. This four-day Master’s course completely changed my ideas about beer. I can’t wait to attend another course and make more discoveries!’.

Emanuela Daros
emanuela_daros@libero.it

Teaching Sustainable Tourism in Romaniaa

This month the Slow Food Turda Convivium’s program includes a series of seminars in rural villages. The workshops will present the potential and benefits of sustainable tourism for local producers.
The objective of the meetings is to provide useful information and skills for developing tourism through the promotion of traditional food products and agricultural practices.
The initiative was inaugurated last year at the Raitu Center for Democracy in a series of seminars open to the public but mainly tailored to hospitality and tourism students. More than 100 students attended the courses, which were held by Rosemary Baron, vice-president of the International Association of Culinary Professionals and a firm supporter of Slow Food philosophy, together with four students from the Oxford Brooks University’s school of hospitality management.
Topics addressed included: what creates culinary tradition and what is its value; the importance of location and seasonality; conquering he food tourism market.

For further information contact:
Marta Pozsonyi
Program Coordinator
martapozsonyi@turdafest.ro

Per mangiarti meglio: Slow Food Editore’s new series for younger readers

AMore stories about kids in red coats and hungry wolves? NOOO
Per mangiarti meglio (All the Better To Eat You With) means being serious about food and finding things out. The aftertaste of a red riding hood? You have to train to learn to recognize it. It takes more than a big mouth …

Per mangiarti meglio is a new illustrated children’s library in Italian from Slow Food Editore. It aims to get the movement’s core ideas across to a young audience and give kids the pleasure of getting to know and taste particular foods. The snail has decided to have its say in the field of children’s literature with a range of biodiverse books. The books are not based on a simple story to capture the reader’s attention, nor are they a careful list of good and bad things to eat. They are in the form of a diary highlighting the links between food, producers and the area it comes from.
The first two books in the Per mangiarti meglio library launched at the Salone del Libro are:
- Il cioccolato. Diario di un lungo viaggio (Chocolate. Diary of a long journey), by Sara Marconi and Francesco Mele, illustrations by Simone Frasca
- Il formaggio. Una storia vera, anzi due (Cheese. Two true stories), by Cinzia Ghigliano and Marco Tomatis.

The snail will reward anyone wanting to go beyond their senses and taste buds and try their hand with pencil, paintbrush, computer, camera, scissors and glue. There’s space to display your work at www.permangiartimeglio.it

The Gift of Bees

Keeping bees as opposed to many other animals has its advantages. Bees don’t need to be fed because they get their food for themselves the whole year round; they produce honey even in arid or semiarid areas; using traditional hives, all the required materials can be found locally; beekeepers don’t need to own land; once started, beekeeping is self-financing.
These advantages make beekeeping a simple activity to undertake as it does not require much funding and can be carried out by anyone (including young people and women). Honey has many beneficial properties and can increase a community’s resources, never mind the essential role played by bees in protecting biodiversity.

The Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity is aware of the sometimes fundamental role of beekeeping and has set up five honey presidia around the world (in Brazil, Italy, Poland and two in Ethiopia). The Terra Madre network boasts 58 communities of beekeepers.
In Ethiopia, the Wenchi Honey Presidium’s first objective was to train beekeepers by organizing exchanges with other beekeepers in Ethiopia and also in Italy. The Foundation, with Diego Pagani (CONAPI beekeeper) as consultant, helped producers to draw up production rules. Pagani, who is a distinguished artist as well as being a beekeeper, got so enthusiastic about the project that he decided to contribute drawings for a cartoon-style manual of honey production techniques drawn up by small beekeepers for small beekeepers.
The book was edited by Diego Pagani and Massimiliano Gotti, technical expert of the Aspromiele association and member of the AAPI board.

Download this attractive publication in Italian or English.



Slow Food busy in Brazil

May 11 was the last day of Festival Brasil Sabor, an event organized by the Brazilian Ministry of Tourism and Association of Bars and Restaurants to promote Brazilian food and cuisine. From April 9 to May 11 the Centro de Convenções Ulisses Guimarães in Brasilia hosted the third edition of the festival, which presented more than 2,000 different dishes. The Slow Food Brasilia Convivium was at the launch on April 8 to present the Slow Food philosophy and principles of eco-gastronomy, together with dishes prepared by members.
Children’s activities also featured, with the convivium organizing a workshop for 30 children of 4-8 years of age. The children prepared a cake made with walnuts, apples, bananas and jabuticaba jam, all products sourced from a local food community. To help them, be aware of the flavors and aromas, children were encouraged to smell and taste each ingredient during the preparation.

At the same time Brazilian convivia participated in Bio Brazil Fair 2008 in Saõ Paulo, a fair dedicated to organic agriculture.



Eyes on the Planet...

Keen photographers and people concerned about socio-environmental issues should take a look at www.eyesontheplanet.org and enter the international Eyes on the Planet photography competition. The initiative aims to raise public awareness of current socio-environmental crises, recording the enormous changes taking place round the world. There are four theme sections: environment, people, climate and food.
Eyes on the Planet is intended for promising young photographers, but is also open to all amateurs aged between 18 and 35, giving them the opportunity to gain a higher profile and improve their skills. The best images will be displayed in a photography exhibition and put up for sale in a charity auction. The proceeds will be donated to projects being promoted by the Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity and WWF in Amazonia to support the long-term sustainable development of local economies.

New Gastronomes for UNISG

On May 1, North American alumni held two information sessions for prospective UNISG students, in New York City and Berkeley, California. The first such sessions organized in the US, the events attracted more than 50 people, packing the spaces at Murray’s Cheese and The Ecology Center. Attendees were given a presentation of the syllabus
—including the new English-language master in Italian Gastronomy and Tourism—and asked questions about employment opportunities, application procedures and life in Italy. Both organizers and attendees deemed the events to be very successful, pointing to increased applications for upcoming academic years.



• New Convivia

The following convivia have recently joined the Slow Food network:

Bio Argentina, Mendoza – Argentina
Oberà, Misiones – Argentina
San Martín de los Andes – Argentina
Rio Negro – Argentina
Côté de Beaupré – Canada
Klang Valley – Malaysia
Alentejo – Portugal
Brasov – Romania
Extremadura – Spain