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July & August 2009
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Slow Food
key
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Convivium
A convivium is a Slow Food local chapter
- a group of members that spreads the Slow Food philosophy
far and wide and makes it real. According to it’s
inclination and imagination, each convivium organizes
a number of events each year, ranging from simple dinners
and tastings, where our members come together to share
the everyday joys of food, to visits to local producers
and farms, conferences and discussions, film festivals,
Taste Education courses for children and adults, promoting
CSA’s and Earth Markets, and many other events and
projects to get to know local foods and producers and
to educate others about them. They build networks among
those who believe that ‘eating is an agricultural
act’ and ‘producing a gastronomic act’,
and bring this message to their communities. Convivia
are the backbone of Slow Food and they are made possible
only through the tireless work of our members, who volunteer
their time and energy. Today, we have over 100,000
members involved in more than 1,000 convivia
in 150 countries.
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Project of the Month |
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Mangeons
Local
Support a project
to rebuild local food knowledge in Senegal |
Senegal - The Mangeons Local project
was born in 2008 when Lék Magnef Sénégal
convivium began a collaboration with local cooks from
the Terra Madre network. Together they designed an education
program with a focus on local agriculture and food traditions
and started to deliver it in two schools. In Senegal,
decreased consumption of locally produced foods has led
to a weakened local economy, as well as rising poverty
levels, health problems and a loss of cultural knowledge
and agricultural biodiversity. This is largely due to
the rapid rise of imported staple foods and the increased
availability of fast food in cities such as Dakar.
The program is designed for students between 10-12 years
old, and is focused on introducing the students to local
breeds and varieties, culinary traditions, and the food
communities in the region. Classroom lessons are followed
by cooking sessions at the school or in a Dakar restaurant
specialized in Senegal’s food traditions.
In 2010, the goal is to increase the reach of the project
by introducing it to a third school in one of Dakar’s
poorest suburbs. In additions, school gardens and excursions
to local producers will be added to the program to give
students first hand experience of food cultivation and
food processing traditions. A community festival held
at each school will help build awareness of the benefits
of local food consumption among the families and broader
public.
Visit the Adopt
A Project section of Slow Food’s website to
find out more about Mangeons Local and other Slow Food
projects.
To make a donation to support this project’s continuation
click
here.
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From Land to Table... |
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Summer
School in France
Thinking about good,
clean and fair catering |
France – The fourth Slow Food France
Université d'été was held on July
4 and 5 in Tours. Open to all members and supporters,
it was dedicated entirely to the issue of high quality
food in catering and proposed many questions for discussion:
Is it possible to achieve a sustainable canteen model
offering healthy, tasty food in a convivial atmosphere?
What practical measures can we take together with industry
professionals to ensure that dishes inspired by local
culinary traditions are offered by catering services?
It is possible to offer high quality products, i.e. healthy,
local and seasonal food at an acceptable price for everyone?
The two-day event aimed to find practical answers to these
questions (particularly important for those involved in
the food supply chain, from product procurement to meal
service).
The expert speakers included Philippe Corbeau (food sociologist
from the University of Tours) and Fabio Sarmento Da Silva
(AlimenTerra network). Meals were prepared by chef André
Parra and Dominique Valadier, who worked hard in the kitchen
to provide tasty, balanced and good value meals, in perfect
"canteen" style!
It is important that the right and the freedom to access
good, clean and fair food is recognized and applies to
everyone: children, adults, old people, those who are
handicapped, ill or in prison.
For further information:
www.slowfood.fr
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Terra
Madre Argentina
The Argentinean
network meets to define a common national strategy
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Argentina –
The first edition of Terra Madre Argentina will be held
in Buenos Aires from August 13 to 16. Organized in collaboration
with the Caminos y Sabores event supported by Grupo Clarín,
it will be an opportunity for around 100 delegates from
the Terra Madre national network to meet: farmers, fishermen,
producers of good, clean and fair products, cooks, students,
academics, and of course, co-producers.
The delegates will come to Buenos Aires from all corners
of the country (from Tilcara to Ushuaia, Misiones to Mendoza),
and also from Uruguay. They will represent their local
area and attend seminars, discuss issues of common interest
and develop solutions to everyday problems of food production
and consumption. Terra Madre Argentina will enable Slow
Food members to create a common action plan in Argentina
and set up a project to develop sustainable food production
in the country.
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Journey
to the Origins of Taste
Slow Food International
launches a Taste Education kit |
Slow Food’s new sensory education kit, To
the Origins of Taste was first born as a
pilot project at Terra Madre 2008, where thousands of
delegates completed the activity. The course is made up
of three stages: an introductory video in which participants
are familiarized with basic taste concepts; a series of
interactive games to be set up at six stations: taste,
sight, smell, touch, hearing and multi-sensory; and a
finally a pre-recorded lesson to guide participants through
a combined tasting of apples and chocolate to practice
their multi-sensorial capacities.
From Uganda to Toronto, the kit is being used by convivia
and food communities around the world at community events,
in school activities and to increase awareness among food
producers themselves. In April around 200 Canadian school
children stepped into a sensory world when Slow Food Toronto
and Slow Food Prince Edward County presented the course
at a Maple Syrup Festival. Meanwhile in Austria, the Linz
convivium presented the course at the city’s major
festival held from May 30 to June 1, and attracted more
than 200 adults and children to complete the activity.
In June, Slow Food UK and the Oxon convivium ran a program
at the Children’s Food Festival that presented activities
on five taste ‘islands’ followed by stories
from local farmers and producers. In Uganda, Slow Food
Mukono has introduced the program with school children
who are involved in the convivium’s 15 local school
garden projects. The first trial with three to six year
olds went very well as the kids explored their sensory
capacities with some of the vegetables and fruits they
had grown.
There is great enthusiasm to increase use of the kit in
the Slow Food community this year, with new Taste Education
projects in Belarus, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Ukraine
as well as four projects in Latin America already planning
to use it. The kit has been prepared in seven languages:
English, Italian and Russian are ready now, and German,
French, Spanish and Portuguese will be finalized very
soon. Including a DVD of the video; the activity booklet
and recipes; graphics; and Slow Food handbook on sensory
education, In What Sense; the
kit can be utilized for a variety of educational purposes
and audiences.
For more information, or to enquire about accessing
the kit please contact Slow Food Education: education@slowfood.com
www.slowfood.com
To view the To the Origins of Taste video, click
here.
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Healthy
Kai, Healthy Communities
Cultural and
Environmental Sustainability Maori Organics Conference
in New Zealand |
New Zealand - A three-day hui
(gathering) was held in Ahipara, in northern New Zealand
this June to bring together producers, cooks, educators
and students around the topic of organic food production
in Maori communities. Representatives from the Terra Madre
network were involved in the organization of the event
which presented a varied program: discussion of the Maori
standard for farming and gardening Hua Parakore; celebration
of the young farmers who participated in the Manawhenua
Challenge; and the opportunity to enjoy pure traditional
kai (food) and learn new recipes from long-time
Slow Food members Alessandra Zecchini and Mariapia de
Razza.
The common motivation of all those who traveled from around
the country to participate – of all ages and backgrounds
- was a ‘passion for healthy food', said Terra Madre
2006 delegate Percy Tipene, also chairman of the Maori
organic authority Te Waka Kai Ora. ‘Indigenous food
systems are now being recognized internationally for their
sustainability. Hua Parakore standard for Maori organics
is our response to this growing market for culturally
and environmentally responsible foods and medicines.’
Terra Madre 2008 delegate Rueben Taipari-Porter commented
that the conference brought together many inspiring people,
and provided an opportunity to network, share knowledge
and learn new skills. ‘I hope the many cooks and
caterers who attended will take with them some new found
knowledge about healthy food to our people, and especially
to our children.’
For more information:
Rueben Taipari-Porter
rporter@xtra.co.nz
www.huamaori.com
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Get
Up, Stand Up for Your Food
New Slow Food
convivia launched in the Caribbean… |
From Jamaica to Cuba, several new Slow Food convivia celebrated
their opening on island communities across the Caribbean
last month. Making its entrance with a beach Mango festival
to highlight biodiversity, Slow Food has arrived in Jamaica
thanks to the work of the Terra Madre I-tal food community.
Members of Slow Food Jamaica are planning
to hold a range of events with a focus on traditional
foods in order to increase awareness of regional products
and dishes and generate enthusiasm among young people
about their local food culture.
Cuba’s very first convivium, which was opened in
the province of La Habana this month, has instead decided
to focus on working with older generations as a way to
bring influence and change to the broader community. Among
their planned activities, Slow Food La Habana
Germinal will be collecting traditional recipes
to pass on the country’s culinary heritage, and
is initiating a two-way exchange on the art of preserving.
In Puerto Rico, the second convivium Slow Food
Boricua opened with a workshop on sustainable
beekeeping in the tropics and the issue of vanishing native
bee colonies. The convivium aims to promote the organic
movement on the island, unify interest in sustainable
energy and agriculture, create cooperation amongst various
eco-farmer organizations, and explore food cultures and
opportunities to increase communication between Latin
American countries.
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Voices from Terra Madre
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Two
Ladies and a Market
Shir Halperin
and Michal Ansky – chefs and food journalists
– are the young women behind the Tel Aviv
Earth Market. They were drawn together through
a shared passion for culinary history and began
working together to create Israel’s first
farmers’ market in 2007. This is their story…. |
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Israel
- “No one else had tried
to create a farmers’ market in contemporary
times in Israel and we were convinced
that it was the perfect moment for this
type of project. Environmental issues
and quality food were becoming more and
more important to consumers, and we felt
that Slow Food’s principles of good,
clean and fair food could help us set
up a market that would meet these new
demands.
We started to pursue our dream by traveling
to rural areas outside the city to discover
small farmers and processors who were
continuing to produce quality, traditional
foods. We also started investigating how
we could gain access to a prominent public
position and joined forces with Slow Food
Tel Aviv. We were ready to launch the
Tel Aviv Farmers Market in May 2008 to
coincide with the havuot festival - an
ancient celebration connected to the grain
harvest. It was then an honor and the
next natural step for us to join the Earth
Market network in January 2009......." |
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To read the entire story, and to
find out more about Tel Aviv and other Earth
Markets, please click here to visit the
new
Earth Markets site.
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Food
Traditions
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Old
Methods, New Meanings
Ancient traditions
of winter melons and wrapped plums continue in
Sicily today
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Italy – In
a time when produce did not get flown across the world
every day, and the seasons determined what you ate,
farmers devised ingenious ways of preserving fruit during
the cold months of winter. Some of these traditions
have survived, and are finding new appreciation with
renewed appreciation for local food networks. In the
south of Italy, for example, there are two very old
methods to conserve melons and plums.
In the Trapani district, Alcamo Purceddu melons are
grown, a product belonging to what is known as the “
winter melon” family. The fruit has an oval shape,
rough green skin and white succulent flesh which becomes
tastier and sweeter as time passes due to the concentration
of sugar. The traditional method was to arrange the
melons on the floor of a cool ventilated room, one on
top of another, and regularly turn them. Today, the
Presidium producers have made improvements: they wrap
the melons in netting and suspend them from wooden frames
like salami.
In the countryside around Palermo, you can find another
fascinating tradition in the town of Monreale: plums
"wrapped in paper”, which at one time filled
the market stalls in Ballarò and Vuccirìa
during autumn. Now two families have again started wrapping
the sweet white Monreale plums one by one in long sausages
of tissue paper. Hung outside, the plums dry out and
shrivel, preserving their flavor and aroma.
Monreale White Plum Presidium
Marilù Monte
monte@susinebianche.com
Alcamo Porceddu Melon Presidium
Nunzio Bastone
Nunzio.Bastone@donrizzo.bcc.it
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In
Print
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Cooking
With Words
Slow Food
books and authors awarded at the Gourmand World
Cookbook Awards
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Il Cioccolato Diario
di un Lungo Viaggio by Sara Marconi and
Francesco Mele, and published by the Slow Food Editore
won the Best Children and Family Cookbook in the World
award this year at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards
in Paris. In this book, nine-year-old Marta learns everything
about chocolate from her uncle who shows her the entire
production process, from the tree to the chocolate bar.
The book was recognized for being “a very important
innovative book”, and the award was also given
in acknowledgment of: “the action of Slow Food
to transmit culinary knowledge for all ages.”
Find out more about Slow
Food Editore here.
Man’oushé: Inside the Street
Corner Lebanese Bakery, by Barbara Abdeni
Massaad - a founding member of Slow Food Beirut and
an active participant of Slow Food Foundation projects
in Lebanon - was awarded the Jury’s Special Award
in tribute to her career and achievements made for culinary
culture in Lebanon. The book follows Barbara’s
journey across the country to discover Lebanon’s
favorite snack man’oushé, presents the
wide variety of recipes that exist for this daily staple,
and documents the people she met in words and photographs.
View Barbara’s
website here.
Australian Slow Food member Liz Harfull’s Blue
Ribbon Cookbook won second place in the
Best Easy Recipes Cookbook in the World award. As a
writer, Liz has focused in particular on working with
rural and regional communities and decided to dedicate
a cookbook to the hundreds of talented amateur cooks
who spend countless hours each year preparing entries
for country shows across South Australia. The cookbook
features the stories of more than 50 cooks, ranging
in age from 3 to 93, and their prizewinning recipes,
as well as tips that are not often published but rather
handed down from generation to generation.
The Gourmand World Cookbook Award was set up to reward
and honor those who “cook with words”, to
help readers find the best of the 26,000 food and wine
books produced every year.
www.cookbookfair.com
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Food
for Thought
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Ada’s
Cookbook
When a meeting
of cultures generates new gastronomic traditions:
the ups and downs of Dutch and Singhalese coexistence |
Sri Lanka - “The story of the
encounter between Dutch and Sri Lankan cuisines is long
and complex. The initial contact came in 1602 when the
first ships sent by the Dutch East India Company arrived
in what was then Ceylon after the several month voyage
from Europe. Vice Admiral Sebald de Weert and his crew
had endured the hazards of the long sea journey on a
diet of salted beef and whatever they could pick up
from the stopovers at Table Bay in the Cape of Good
Hope or one of the other of the islands in the Western
Indian Ocean. They had been welcomed by Dom Joao, the
recently Christianized Sinhala king. Dom Joao had fallen
out with the Portuguese who were at the time ensconced
in their fort on the coast of Ceylon, and was anxious
to join with the Dutch in ousting them. In return for
de Weert’s assistance, Dom Joao promised him the
Portuguese fort and exclusive trading rights to the
highly prized spices readily available in Ceylon.
However the Dutch Vice Admiral and his men also had
their eye on the cattle roaming near their encampment
which could provide fresh meat after months of preserved
rations...”
Click
here to read the complete article in English on
the Slow Food site.
< Return to
Index >
Campaigns
Slow Fish Campaign
Festival
of the Sea
Fishing traditions
and culinary heritage celebrated in Iceland
Iceland - The first
weekend of June has traditionally been celebrated
as Sailor's Day in Iceland, when the entire
fleet stays ashore and seamen are honored
for the important role they have played
in the island’s economy throughout
history. This year, Slow Food Reykjavik
was invited to take part in their city’s
Festival of the Sea and decided to focus
on raising awareness about the sustainability
of fishing and fish processing. In the midst
of the festival, cooks offered a fish soup
based on catfish and ocean perch fished
from small fishing vessels using lines.
Meanwhile, inside the Maritime Museum, dried
sole, a traditional staple of southeastern
Iceland, was presented along with shellfish
from the north and trout cream from a local
farmer. Smoked haddock, a traditional dish
that was nearly lost and is now experiencing
a revival through the reinvestment in small-scale
smoking ventures, was featured in a local
restaurant. In addition, small workshops
and discussions focused on new Nordic food,
the new Fish Market planned for the city
centre, tastings, and sensory education.
Slow Food’s participation provided
a great addition to the festival, and many
of the activities appealed to visitors.
We will return in 2010.
Dominique Plédel Jónsson
Slow Food Reykjavik convivium leader
dominique@simnet.is
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TERRA MADRE DAY
Slow Food is working to launch Terra Madre Day
around the world, to be held on December
10 this year.
Convivia, food communities and all people supportive
of Terra Madre and Slow Food ideals, are invited
to organize an event, however small or symbolic,
in their local area. If we all make the most of
this opportunity with passion and goodwill we
can organize one of the largest collective events
celebrating food diversity ever achieved on a
global scale.
Our efforts could
have historical significance and it is wonderful
that just a simple initiative within our own communities
can have such far-reaching effects. Global change
is based on local roots, where our communities
are the most virtuous and creative representatives.
Each everyday action carried out by communities
is a revolutionary act opposing the mistaken approach
adopted by global agribusiness.
I invite you to let loose your creativity and
make December 10, 2009 a memorable day. It will
be like each time we meet in Turin: it will give
us a boost and renewed pride in what we are doing,
but this time it will happen at home.
Carlo Petrini
President of Slow Food International
OUR CHILDREN DESERVE
REAL FOOD
Slow Food’s members work to ensure that
the food and agriculture in their local communities
is good, clean and fair. Historically, our work
is done locally, even though it happens all over
the world. Sometimes working locally is not enough.
Sometimes we need to get political nationally.
Sometimes we need to get political globally. This
means speaking with a unified voice. In the U.S.,
Slow Food is speaking with a united voice for
the first time, and we are speaking about something
that matters to all of us: how we feed our children.
In June, Slow Food USA launched the Time
for Lunch campaign to tell our legislators
it’s time to update the National School
Lunch Program. Our goal is to get real food into
schools, instead of over-processed junk food,
and our members are supporting this effort by
signing our Time for Lunch petition, contacting
their legislators and organizing Eat-Ins (or potlucks)
for our National Day of Action on Labor Day, Sept
7, 2009.
We are excited that our members are supporting
this effort in such a positive way. After only
one month into the campaign, we already have more
than 160 Eat-Ins organized in 43 states across
the country. More than 85% of our chapters are
participating.
Our National Day of Action will send the message
that we want real food for our kids, and it will
establish Slow Food USA’s network as a force
of change in the food movement.
Josh Viertel
President of Slow Food USA
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Slow Food is working
to help communities around the world to rebuild
their local food systems in order to eat better,
protect the environment and maintain cultural diversity.
Help us further these concrete solutions for change.
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| Join
a worldwide |
community
that defends sustainable agriculture, fishing
and breeding. Celebrate the pleasure of food traditions
and quality foods around the world.
servicecentre
@slowfood.com
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CALENDAR
Terra Madre Argentina
August 13-16, 2009
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Cheese
September 18 - 21, 2009
Bra, Italy
Taste Festival of Ustikolina
September 24 - 25, 2009
Gorazde, Bosnia Herzegovina
Slow
Barossa
Octpber 1-4, 2009
Barossa, Australia
Slow Food Nippon
Octpber 23 - 25, 2009
Yokohmama, Japan
Terra
Madre Austria
October 28 - 29, 2009
Vienna, Austria
Slow
Fisch
November 6 - 8 2009
Brema, Germany
EURO
GUSTO & Terra Madre for Young Europeans
November 27-30, 2009
Tours, France
Vignerons
d'Europe
December 5 - 8, 2009
Florence, Italy
ALGUSTO
– Saber y Sabor
December 11-14, 2009
Bilbao, Spain
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The seventh
edition of the event that brings together artisan
cheesemakers and cheese lovers from around the
world.
During Cheese, a
walk through the streets of Bra in Italy becomes
a journey of discovery of products and impressions
from the diverse world of cheeses across Europe
and from around the world. In the wide program
of Taste Workshops, you can learn how to recognize
cheeses, learn about their characteristics,
evaluate their merits and defects, and understand
their production techniques. Here are a couple
of the workshops being presented over the four
days of Cheese:
Taste
Workshop: Artisanal Cheeses from Australia
Led by Will Studd, Australian artisanal cheesemaking
expert and raw-milk champion, you’ll discover
the hidden gems of this vast continent, from
chèvres and blues from the state of Victoria
to cow’s milk cheeses from the island
of Tasmania, a cheesemaking paradise. You’ll
also get to taste C2 from Bruny Island Cheese
Co., the only raw-milk example, produced in
defiance of the government’s cheesemaking
regulations. The cheeses will be paired with
a series of wines, from Hunter Valley Semillon
to Shiraz and Pinot Noir from Victoria, finishing
with a Tasmanian sparkling wine.
Taste
Workshop: Goat’s Cheeses from Catalonia
Artisanal goat’s milk cheeses from Catalonia
are just one example of how Spanish cheese production
is returning to tradition and is using raw milk,
after years of industrial cheese dominating
the national panorama. Moving from the Pyrenees
to Garrotxa to the province of Lleida, you’ll
taste six cheeses, paired with jams and dried
fruit and a sparkling cava from Alt Penedès,
a red wine from Conca de Barberà and
a Manzanilla Amontillada from Andalusia.
Click
here to view the Cheese 2009 program in
English, Italian, German or French.
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Slow Food Almanac
The Slow Food Almanac 2008 has been
published recently in English, Italian, Spanish,
German, French. you can view an electronic version
of the Almanac here.
communication
@slowfood.com
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Slow Food and
Terra Madre
in figures
Members: 100,000
Convivia: 1,000
Countries: 150
Presidia: 306
Ark of Taste products: 813
Earth Markets: 9
School gardens: 300
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What
Slow Food and Terra Madre mean to me...
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“I
have been a member of this movement for five years
because I firmly believe in the importance of the
good, clean and fair principles for our communities.
We need only look at what is happening to the environment
and the food system to see how many outstanding
artisan products are disappearing because younger
generations don't know them and no longer want to
eat them. It is sad to see how small-scale producers
are often exploited by consumers who don't realize
the difficulties involved in agricultural production.
For this reason, as a convivium leader and coordinator
of the Huehuetenango Highlands Coffee Presidium,
I organize initiatives to promote the products and
the producers of our communities, and to establish
supportive relationships between them and consumers
so younger generations won't forget their food traditions."
Manrique López Castillo
Leader of the Huehuetenango convivium and coordinator
of the Huehuetenango Highlands Coffee Presidium
(Guatemala) |
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