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November
2009
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Terra
Madre Day
The three Terra Madre world meetings of
food communities organized by Slow Food
since 2004 have brought together thousands
of small farmers, producers, cooks, educators,
youth and activists from 150 countries to
collaboratively work together on improving
our food system. This year, on the occasion
of Slow Food’s 20th anniversary, Terra
Madre Day is being held to bring this focus
to the very local level. Terra Madre communities,
Slow Food convivia and others are organizing
hundreds of events all around the world
that will raise awareness of the importance
of "eating locally" in their regions.
Terra Madre Day is guided by seven
pillars that reflect our values and
hopes for the future and which we demand
as a right for all communities. Here are
some examples of planned celebrations according
to each pillar...
Remember to register your own Terra
Madre Day event on the website: www.slowfood.com/terramadreday
1.
Access to good, clean and fair food
Slow
Food in the Canteen
France - Slow Food Bayonne
has been working with local primary schools
to improve their canteens for years now,
and will reflect on and share their results
on Terra Madre Day. 4,000 pupils are now
served meals by a local social enterprise,
which employs both unemployed and disabled
persons and uses produce sourced from a
30 km radius around the city. Once a week
a completely organic meal is served and
the children are responding very well to
the new taste of their canteen. Terra Madre
Day will provide an exciting opportunity,
and landmark moment for the project. Parents,
students, the local Mayor and officials
will come together to renew their commitment
to the project which celebrates all that
Slow Food stands for: good, clean and fair
food and Taste Education.
The Bayonne project is also part of the
Slow Food European Canteen Network.
Click
here for more information.
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2.
Agricultural and food biodiversity
Endangered
Foods and Local Dishes
Uganda - The Central Convivium
in Mukono will contribute to protecting
local biodiversity at their Terra Madre
Day event, ‘Endangered Foods and Local
Dishes’. A wide array of fruits and
vegetables that were once frequently eaten
in the past are no longer commonly available
in Uganda, and so the convivium has asked
members from various parts of the country
to track down some of these varieties and
reintroduce them to the public on Terra
Madre Day. The day will also include a seed
collection to help prevent these foods from
becoming extinct. The event will then lighten
up with a closing party and a tasting of
juices and fruits from across the land.
Click
here for more information.
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3.
Small-scale food production
Glimpses
of Terra Madre
India - To celebrate small-scale
food production around the world, the people
of Varanasi will share and relive the coming
together of food communities at Terra Madre
2008 with a photo exhibition that tells
the story of this five-day world meeting.
This biennial event launched the Terra Madre
network back in 2004, and brings together
farmers and food producers from 150 countries,
connecting them with cooks, educators and
youth to discuss how to improve the food
system collaboratively. Visitors to the
exhibition entitled ‘Glimpses of Terra
Madre 2008’ will see many cultures,
lifestyles and lands through the faces and
expressions of small-scale farmers, breeders,
fishermen and artisan producers from all
around the world – together a united
force for a better food future. The exhibition
will also display images of the food culture
of rural and urban people in India.
Click
here for more information.
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4.
Food sovereignty
Down
with Fast Food in Dhaka
Bangladesh - The right
to knowledge and freedom to decide what
to grow, how food is transformed and what
makes up our daily diet will be defended
in Bangladesh as an expected 500 people
rally and collect signatures against toxic
and fast food. This campaign for the protection
of slow and traditional food, demands a
halt to the proliferation of fast-food chains
throughout Asia, as it is threatening traditional
diets, small-scale production and biodiversity.
Exercising their rights for culturally appropriate
and healthy food options, the group will
meet in front of the National Museum of
Bangladesh, collecting signatures from local
people and raising awareness of the unhealthy
options offered by global, industrialized
food providers.
Click
here for more information.
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5.
Language,
culture and traditional knowledge
Tribute
to Mother Earth
Mexico – In the village
of Cerro Armadillo, Terra Madre Day celebrations
will be centered around traditional and
religious rituals, starting with a thanksgiving
and prayer for good harvests (corn, coffee,
vanilla, beans and other local products).
Producers and their families will be arriving
at the Cerro Armadillo church early on December
10, bringing different regional products
with them. Small parcels of seeds will be
placed at the four cardinal points of the
altar, as an offering to Mother Earth. These
will be blessed and presented by a young
girl wearing a traditional, hand-woven Chinanteca
dress. After the ceremony, an elder from
the village will offer the food prepared
with more than 40 ingredients cultivated
locally. Corn will be used in more than
four of the dishes (tortillas of white,
black and yellow corn, tamales and fermented
drinks). The producers’ families will
all attend, joined by inhabitants from Tuxtepec
and other towns from further away, who are
keen to be part of this unusual indigenous
experience. Vanilla from the Chinantla Presidium
will also be offered to the visitors and
the event will conclude with the ritual
of burying a sample of each product, to
give thanks to the earth for the life she
is giving us.
Click
here for more information.
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6.
Environmentally responsible food production
Long
Table Against GMOs
Germany - Producers and
co-producers of the Ulm region will unite
in their resistance to genetically-modified
organisms (GMOs) with a long-table meal.
Organized by the Alliance for a GMO-free
Region (around) Ulm, the event will highlight
the need for us to recognize that our food
choices are strongly linked to the health
of the environment, and draw attention to
the harm caused by GMO crops and foods.
Inspired by the words of Slow Food International
Vice-president Vandana Shiva to "eat
lentils, rice and vegetables", the
meal will be centered on these foods, all
provided by local farmers. The food offered
is an example of a perfectly healthy and
balanced meal, and is a statement of the
need to eat less meat in order to move towards
true sustainability.
Click
here for more information.
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7.
Fair and
sustainable trade
Along
the Farmers’ Road
Chile – Fair and
sustainable trade starts by building support
and value for our local producers, and to
encourage this Frontera del Sur Convivium
has decided on a full day excursion to visit
farmers in the immediate region. Everyone
concerned with the continued production
of good, healthy, local food, is invited
to join in a walk that will take them to
visit men and women that work in the fields
and produce artisan food, including producers
from the Blue Egg Presidium. There will
be time to talk, to understand how they
produce their specialties and to buy food
directly from them. This Terra Madre Day
event is focused on emphasizing to the local
community that short food supply chains
are one of the key elements of sustainable
agriculture, that allow us to reach a fair
financial outcome for producers and consumers
alike.
Click
here for more information.
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Terra
Madre Day: Educate, Share, Enjoy!
People from all corners of the world are
planning a wide range of activities and
events as diverse and unique as the communities
holding them to celebrate Terra Madre Day.
Some are focusing on knowledge as empowerment,
such as the Norwegian Sognefjordare Convivium’s
Seminar
on Global Food, or the Slow
Food Information Day to present all
aspects of good, clean and fair food to
farmers, local food producers, educators
and students in India. Meanwhile others
are turning their event into a chance for
children to get their hands dirty and learn.
In Romania the Back
to Traditions event will give school
children the opportunity to learn how to
make traditional bread in a small village,
in Belarus students will learn about herbs
and berries from the forest during the Fruits
of the Forest Workshop, discovering
how to dry them and use them in cooking
and traditional Belarusian teas. Meanwhile,
in two villages of the mountainous part
of Azerbaijan, a special Terra
Madre Lesson is being organized, to
which parents are also invited and which
will be followed by a tasting of products
from the local Terra Madre communities of
beekeepers and producers of mazoni (fermented
milk). Others are embracing Terra Madre
Day with conviviality at the table in homes,
restaurants and farms. In Calgary, Canada,
the Alberta
Locavore Challenge requires each dinner
host to prepare a meal using only local
ingredients, while the Progressive
Holiday Block Party in Seattle, USA
has planned each course to take place in
a different house and will be prepared using
locally grown, organic, and ethnically diverse
ingredients.
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Breaking
Bread in the Balkans
During the first Slow Food meeting of Balkan
countries held last October in Bulgaria,
delegates decided to share a common act
during Terra Madre Day: a simple and traditional
gesture to affirm their willingness to collaborate
and to strengthen the Slow Food network
in the Balkans.
Throughout the region, it is a common tradition
to prepare a large loaf of bread to be offered
to all guests. Each guest is asked to break
a piece of bread and eat it with salt before
entering the premises where a celebration
is taking place. During their Terra Madre
Day celebrations, all the convivia and food
communities from the Balkan countries will
carry out this gesture: at the opening of
the special edition of an Earth Market at
a farmers’ museum (Bucharest, Romania),
as well as when entering the premises of
the schools engaged in education activities
in Sofia (Bulgaria), on arrival at a traditional
dinner hosted by the Gorazde Convivium (Bosnia)
and many others.
The Slow Food movement is growing rapidly
and steadily in Eastern European countries
(now counting 42 convivia), and convivium
leaders from the region decided to increase
their effectiveness by uniting and building
common strategies and working together to
hold a regional Terra Madre meeting next
year. Balkan countries share a common past,
face similar challenges and can work together
to revive, preserve and safeguard for the
future the food treasures of small-scale
artisan communities.
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From Land
to Table... |
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Algusto
& Terra Madre Spain
A taste of the Atlantic
Coast |
Spain - Jointly organized by Slow Food
International and Spanish Slow Food convivia, the second
edition of ALGUSTO, Saber y Sabor will take place on December
11-14, 2009 at the Bilbao Exhibition Centre (BEC).
While inspired by the Salone del Gusto in Turin, the fair
is directed at a much smaller geographical area, focusing
mainly on the Iberian peninsula (Spain and Portugal),
Europe’s Atlantic coast (France, Holland, etc),
the British Isles and Ireland, and Latin America. The
event gives visitors and the general public the chance
to sample and buy a broad variety of local, artisan and
homemade products from around the world: oils, wine, liqueurs,
cider, coffees, teas, preserved foods, meat and cured
meats, dairy products, fish, seafood and shellfish, smoked
goods, frozen products, ice-creams, fresh fruit and vegetables,
delicatessen products, cakes and pastries and other sector-related
goods and produce.
Algusto will feature tastings, taste workshops, children’s
workshops, chef demonstrations, meals in selected restaurants,
talks, etc.
In addition, the event will host a four-day Terra
Madre Spain gathering, to bring together producers,
farmers, cooks, educators, youth and others to disucss
four key themes: sustainable fishing; improving public
catering; restaurants and sourcing local food; and youth
and agriculture.
The event is supported by the Basque government, the
provincial government of Bizkaia and Bilbao City Council.
www.algusto.eu
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Zero
Food Miles
A project by Terra
Madre cooks in Spain |
Spain - A group of well known chefs
from the Terra Madre network in Spain, lead by cook
and Slow Food Garraf leader, Valentí Mongay,
have devised a gastronomic and cultural project called
‘Zero Food Miles’ to encourage restaurants
to source more food locally.
The participating chefs are committed to sourcing their
produce from local producers and have developed a series
of rules to guide the project. These rules aim to assist
producers, cooks and local cultures, following Slow
Food’s spirit. A list of participating cooks and
restaurants will be published under the guidance of
the Spanish convivia, who will coordinate the project
in their region and support them by organizing educational
activities together.
As part of the Algusto event in Bilbao over December
11-14, a Terra Madre Spain gathering will dedicate one
day to the national network of cooks, with the objective
of furthering their work and developing the Zero Food
Milesproject. More than 15 cooks will explain how to
build close daily relationships with producers of good,
clean and fair products and to emphasize these products
in menus.
Click
here to read the Zero Kilometer Declaration
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Euro
Gusto & Terra Madre Young Europeans
An opportunity
to rethink the future of food in Europe |
France - This new international Slow Food event
is being held from November 27 to 30 in Tours, in the
heart of the Loire Valley, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
At Euro Gusto you will find a host of attractions…
- The French and European market presenting
hundreds of producers of high quality artisan food,
selected according to Slow Food principles of good,
clean and fair.
- Slow Food’s traditional Taste
Workshops offering visitors an opportunity to discover
and savor high class foods matched with great wines.
- The Slow Food Presidia market, featuring
endangered products and traditions which are now protected
and promoted by Slow Food.
- The Enoteca, with hundreds of European
wines
- A learning area with special events
for children to explore the taste, appearance and aroma
of good, clean and fair food.
Terra Madre Young Europeans is being
held simultaneously with Eurogusto. This side event will
bring together young people from the Slow Food and Terra
Madre network who working to construct a different model
of food production and are defending the right to reclaim
healthy, local and good food. There meating will focus
on the need for greater awareness among farmers, more
artisans who respect the need for quality and greater
diversity in our fields and on our plates.
www.eurogusto.org
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Vienna
Declaration
A declaration
for better food at Terra Madre Austria |
The Vienna Declaration was accepted by the 300 hundred
farmers, cooks, students, researchers and activists who
participated in Terra Madre Austria over October 28-29
– a one day conference on the topic of diversity,
and two-day event which attracted thousands of visitors,
including many school and university groups, to the City
Hall to meet selected small-scale producers and farmers
from across the country in the Biodiversity Market and
participate in Taste Workshops and educational activities.
The declaration was developed in the lead up to Terra
Madre Austria, and is the first political declaration
by Slow Food in Austria. “It is important as it
was developed over several months, including contributions
from our Slow Food members, producers and from other organizations
working on similar issues,” said Peter Zipser, Slow
Food Ark Commissioner and one of the four editors of the
Declaration. “It will be a tool for Slow Food convivia
across Austria, and unite us by providing a national platform.”
To download the Vienna Declaration of Terra Madre
Austria 2009 in English, click
here.
Terra Madre Austria is organized by the City of Vienna
and Slow Food, with support from the Austrian Ark/Presidia
Commission.
www.terramadre.at
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Voices from Terra Madre
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Colorful
Tomatoes for an Increasingly Colorful World!
Margit
Lamm is an organic farmer from upper
Austria who joined 300 other delegates at the
very first Terra Madre Austria meeting. Following
the event’s theme ‘sow diversity,
cultivate diversity, taste diversity and distribute
diversity’, here she tells us about her
work growing a wide variety of heirloom vegetables... |
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“Austria - Even
before the diversity of cultivars began
to fascinate me, it was the diversity
in living and working on a farm that strongly
attracted me: entrepreneurial creativity,
self-determined working hours, social
cooperation, working outdoors and following
the rhythm of the seasons, the meaningful
activity, the ecological contribution
and my personal love for agriculture.
Social diversity is my big concern in
the same way ecological diversity is –
the cultivation of diversity..." |
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Margit Lamm
margit.lamm@fairleben.at
www.fairleben.at
Click here to read the rest of Margit's
story on the Terra Madre site.
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In
Print, On Screen
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True
Costs of Cheap Meat
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The film Killing
Fields: the battle to feed factory farms
exposes how vast plantations of soy in Paraguay, destined
for animal feed in intensive farms, are causing an
array of problems including deforestation, excessive
pesticide use, poisoning, rising food insecurity,
forced displacement of rural communities, violence,
landlessness and poverty.
Produced by Friends of the Earth, Food and Water Watch
and Via Campesina in conjunction with the Ecologist
Film Unit, the film highlights the unsustainable nature
of modern food production, and raises awareness of
the real cost of factory farming systems supplying
Europe’s cheap meat and dairy.
You can download the movie from this site:
www.feedingfactoryfarms.org.
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Homegrown
Revolution |
This film is a short introduction
to a homegrown project that has been called a new
revolution in urban sustainability. In the midst of
a densely urban setting in downtown Pasadena, California,
the Dervaes family have transformed their home into
an urban homestead and model for sustainable agriculture
and city living. The Dervaes family shows that change
is possible, one step at a time.
For more information or to buy the film:
www.homegrownrevolution.com
More information on the Dervaes family project:
www.littlehomesteadinthecity.org
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Terra
Madre Day
I am delighted
to write this editorial for the newsletter accompanying
Terra Madre Day. What an inspiration it is to
look at the event
website and see the initial list of initiatives
that so many of you are organizing around the
world! It really lifts the spirits and I am sure
it is just the beginning. Together we will present
an impressive demonstration that the Terra Madre
network, together with Slow Food, is alive and
active at a local level, and by holding this event
every year we will continue to increase this representation.
Take ownership of this day, cherish it and look
forward to celebrating it year after year. For
those of you who aren’t participating in
an event, think about what you can do and organize:
however small your initiatives, this is how others
see us and where our strength lies.
It is not only a great day because we are celebrating
twenty years of Slow Food International, the association
which has developed Terra Madre, creating mechanisms,
stories, exchanges and new friendships. Terra
Madre has become a network that operates way beyond
the Turin meeting. It communicates to people who
live with and in the communities that constitute
Terra Madre.
I wish you all the best for your local initiatives
and hope you enjoy many convivial encounters marked
by friendship and pleasure.
I would also like to let you know that a new book
of mine Terra Madre, come non farci
mangiare dal cibo has just been
published here in Italy. It deals with your network
and aims to highlight Terra Madre’s huge
importance as a political player on the world
stage, its ability to influence agricultural,
food and environmental decisions made on a global
scale.
It will soon be available in other languages,
starting with English in early 2010. The book
will be an important promotional tool, addressing
all the cultural and political issues we share.
We encourage you to promote it as soon as it is
available in your country. For every copy sold
we will donate part of the proceeds to Terra Madre,
as part of the project to make the network as
financially and organizationally independent as
possible.
As I said, we are just at the beginning but will
achieve a great deal. I wish all of you a great
Terra Madre Day!
Carlo Petrini
President of Slow Food International
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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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Video: Carlo Petrini
at the Sydney Opera House
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Photo:
The Chinantla Vanilla Presidium |
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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: 1,300
Countries: 150
Presidia: 307
Ark of Taste products: 877
Earth Markets: 9
School gardens: 300
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