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April
2010
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In
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Slow Food
key
words
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UNISG
(The University of Gastronomic Sciences)
The University of Gastronomic Sciences (UNISG) is a private
non-profit institution founded in 2004 by Slow Food in
cooperation with the Italian regions of Piedmont and Emilia-Romagna.
Students from around the world come to study and experience
artisanal and industrial food production through a multidisciplinary
program that covers both science and humanities, sensory
training, and hands-on learning during study trips on
five continent. UNISG is concerned with renewing farming
methods, protecting food biodiversity, and building an
organic relationship between gastronomy and agriculture.
Thus, graduates of the 3-year degree and post-graduate
programs are unique professional figures within the gastronomy
field – knowledgeable in the production, distribution,
promotion, and communication of high-quality foods.
For more information: www.unisg.it
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Campaigns |
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Slow
Fish
A new website for good,
clean and fair fish |
This month sees the launch of the international Slow
Fish campaign website
in four languages. Through the website, Slow Food
aims to inform people about the situation facing our
oceans by collecting and presenting data from leading
organizations and scientific institutes around the world.
Furthermore, it offers a glimpse into the lives and
work of the small-scale fishing communities of the Slow
Food Presidia and Terra Madre network, and describes
some of the most interesting initiatives organized around
the world by Slow Food convivia to promote sustainable
fishing and seafood consumption. Finally, it provides
suggestions for simple everyday actions through which
we can make a difference – whether we are retailers,
restauranteurs or consumers - when deciding what fish
to buy and cook.
The Slow Fish campaign aims to spread the guidelines
and information provided through the international Slow
Fish event held every two years in Genoa, to the entire
Slow Food community, encouraging convivia and the Terra
Madre network to consider these issues in their activities
and to practice and promote responsible good, clean
and fair choices.
We would like to invite all of you to visit the site,
and to use this information in your personal lives and
in organizing initiatives. Let us know what is happening
in your area – whether it is a dinner prepared
with local sustainable fish, a traditional recipe, a
fishing technique worth reviving or an initiative for
children – and get in contact if you have any
ideas or information to add.
The Slow Fish campaign has been developed with funding
support from the Lighthouse Foundation, a German organization
promoting the defense of marine biodiversity (for information
see www.lighthouse-foundation.org).
www.slowfood.com/slowfish
The next event: Terre
d’Acqua
The Veneto Regional Authority, in collaboration with
Slow Food, is organizing the first edition of Terre
d’Acqua (Waterlands), in Rovigo, Italy on May
28, 29 and 30.
This event aims to focus attention on ecosystems in
brackish and fresh waters, with particular emphasis
on the Po delta. The event will also involve a fundraising
activity to help the Robinson Crusoe Island Seafood
Presidium in Chile, which was seriously affected by
the devastating earthquake and tsunami last February.
Click
here for more information on Terre
d’Acqua
Click
here to find out more about the Robinson Crusoe
Island Seafood Presidium and click
here if you would like to make a donation to assist
them in their recovery.
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The
European Food Declaration
A coalition of
organizations calls for a better food system
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Slow Food has joined a coalition
of European organizations who have created a declaration
as the first step in efforts to build a broad movement
of change towards food sovereignty. The European Food
Declaration outlines the group's recommended policy objectives
for the next several decades of the Common Agriculture
and Food Policy (CAP), the EU's system of agricultural
subsidies and programs, due for change in 2013. “After
more than a half-century of industrialization of agriculture
and food production, sustainable family farming and local
food cultures have been substantially reduced,”
the declaration states. “Today, our food system
is dependent on under-priced fossil fuels, does not recognize
the limitations of water and land resources, and supports
unhealthy diets.” The declaration calls for a healthy,
sustainable and fair CAP, and highlights twelve key principles
including encouraging the production and consumption of
local, seasonal, high quality products, reconnecting citizens
with their food and food producers, and considering food
as a universal human right, not merely a commodity.
Click
here for the full article.
Click
here for more information or to sign the declaration.
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From Land to Table... |
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Taste
of the Cape
Youth Agricultural
Ambassadors promote organic farming and the future
of agriculture in their region |
South Africa - The Youth Agricultural
Ambassadors (YAA) project was launched in 2008 under the
guidance of Terra Madre delegate Tshediso Johannes Phahlane
by a group of eight young people who wanted to motivate
and educate their peers, school children, orphans and
others on organic agriculture, and empower them to lead
their communities in becoming self-sufficient. The YAA
team formed a committee to run the project and enlisted
a group of organic producers to educate participants about
their approach to agriculture - no chemicals and using
permaculture design - as well as broader topics such as
HIV/AIDS, leadership skills, gender equality and career
guidance. “Our objective is to create job opportunities
for youth, women and people with disabilities and to provide
relevant skills for the present and in the future,”
said Tshediso Johannes. To date, the YAA have trained
over 300 orphans and 806 children in five different schools.
“We want our children to live in a good environment
and eat healthy food. It is our responsibility to make
this dream come true.”
For more information:
Tshediso Johannes Phahlane
tphahlane@gmail.com
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A
new convivium promotes good, clean and fair to all
through community activities
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Meanwhile further south in the country,
Cape Town's second convivium has hit the ground running
since it opened late last year. The Mother City Convivium
has so far organized tastings, an artisan beer and food-pairing
evening, a visit to a bio-dynamic farm, a workshop on
preserving foods and a mushroom forage in the forest,
as well as a community-supported agriculture program connecting
small farmers directly with groups of urban consumers.
“We were simply so excited about how many awesome
events we could organize and small producers we could
visit, that we decided Cape Town was big enough for two
sister convivia and leapt into the breach,” said
convivium committee member Pia Taylor. “The idea
is to make our convivium accessible to students and families
by offering affordable outings that promote the values
of Slow Food.”
For more information:
www.slowfoodmothercity.co.za
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Moving
on from the War
Srebrenica celebrates
local food traditions through Slow Food Presidia |
Prior to the 1990s, Srebrenica was
a lively town in eastern Bosnia. Its spa facilities attracted
tourists and it was a cultural center for the surrounding
area, with a theater that welcomed artists and performers
from around Yugoslavia. Then the civil war and genocide
of 1995 brought it all to an end and devastated entire
communities.
Srebrenica has gradually recovered and is slowly re-establishing
its cultural traditions. Last month, for example, the
three-day cultural event Tempus Argenti was organized
and featured theater performances and musical concerts
as well as a series of Slow Food Taste Workshops. The
Taste Workshops were organized by the Slow Food Goraząde
Convivium who invited producers from the Pozegaca Plum
Slatko and the Cheese in a Sack Presidia, as well as from
the Trebinje Poljak Bean Producers food community. The
sessions presented local gastronomic traditions to young
people and adults and helped them appreciate the value
of artisan methods and traditions in food production.
Erna Subasic´, the young convivium leader said:
“We want to reconnect young people with the land.
People are proud of their region in Bosnia but we can
no longer distinguish a homemade apple juice from an industrial
one. Food is an essential element in regaining a healthy
relationship with the local area and our identity”.
This initiative was supported by Roberta Biagiarelli of
Italian Cooperation and is one in a series of activities
planned to revitalize social and cultural life in the
Srebrenica and Bratunac areas of Bosnia Herzegovina.
For more information:
www.utlsarajevo.org
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Aiding
Livelihoods
Assisting HIV-affected
families to improve food nutrition and security |
Kenya - A new initiative is aiming to
improve food and nutrition security for HIV sufferers
by raising funds and working with affected families to
empower them to generate their own food and income. Through
the project ‘Aid Livelihoods for 90 HIV Affected
Kenyan Homes’, the Slow Food Central Rift Convivium
and Network for Ecofarming in Africa (NECOFA) will provide
families in the Molo District with materials such as seeds
and livestock plus training in sustainable agriculture,
small livestock farming and nutrition, in an effort to
help them become more self-sufficient. “While many
Kenyan families are struggling with challenges of poverty,
food and nutrition insecurity, families affected by HIV/AIDS
are more prone and vulnerable,” explained Pascale
Brevet, UNISG Master’s graduate who led the research
phase of the project. “They are faced with the extra
responsibility of taking care and feeding the infected
person(s) who also require even more nutritional attention.”
Since January, the convivium and NECOFA have successfully
provided support to twelve critically affected families
and are currently calling for donations to help reach
all affected households in the district.
Click
here for more information or to donate.
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School garden
project awarded |
Kenya - In an active period for the
Central Rift Convivium and NECOFA, their joint school
garden project at Michinda Boys' Primary School has been
judged the country's best in a Ministry of Agriculture
competition. “The level of intelligence of the young
boys amazed the judges who also appreciated how they were
able to incorporate different subjects into their school
garden work. They not only demonstrated crop growing,
harvesting and preservation but they also showed the judges
how they avoided chemicals and grew their food organically,”
said Jane Karanja, Central Rift Convivium's organizational
secretary. “When the boys learnt of their position
and success they were overjoyed and started singing and
dancing songs of praise all over the school compound.
Who could blame them for the noise - they were the champions
of organic farming and the agriculturists for tomorrow.”
For more information:
Jane Karanja
Slow Food Central Rift Convivium
jane_karanja2001@yahoo.com
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Voices
of Terra Madre
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Cuban
Lessons
In celebration
of Terra Madre Day last December, members of Slow
Food Pelham in Canada pledged to support a Slow
Food project and together decided on the Cuban
project 'Training Local Leaders'. After donating
funds, convivium members Renée Girard and
Daniel Boudin visited the project organizers.
Renée shares their story... |
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Cuba
– Daniel
and I decided to visit Havana as we thought
it would be a great opportunity to learn
more about the project we donated to,
and exchange ideas with the people involved.
Vilda Figueroa and José Lama, the
two directors of the program, run a number
of projects alongside 'Training Local
Leaders', including one on preserving
food. They welcomed us warmly and showed
us with great pride their gardens and
shelves filled with more than a hundred
different home-preserved products...
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Click
here to read Renée’s full
story on the Terra Madre website.
Renée Girard
Slow Food Pelham
dboudin@cogeco.ca
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Food
for Thought
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Sustainable
Dining
UK organizations
helping conscious diners |
UK - Consumers are becoming more eco-conscious
at home - buying Fairtrade, organic and free-range foods
- but are unable to maintain their ideals while eating
out. This was the conclusion drawn by researchers of
the Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA) before
their launch earlier this year. Aiming to change this,
the organization rates restaurants according to their
sustainability in a wide selection of criteria, including
food locality and seasonality, energy use, waste, and
building relationships with farms and producers, in
an effort to help both customers and restaurateurs concerned
about eco-friendly and ethical dining. “Our belief
is that restaurants need help and consumers do too,”
said founder Giles Gibbons, “When you get both
sides moving and learning together, then you create
real change.”
The SRA joins Fish2Fork, an online organization that
rates UK and USA restaurants that serve fish, not only
for the quality of their food but also for the effect
their menu choices have on the seas and marine life.
Many individual restaurants are also making great progress
in moving towards sustainability. In the kitchen of
London restaurant Konstam, for example, 80% of produce
sourced by head chef Oliver Rowe is grown or reared
within the area covered by the London tube network.
For more information:
The
Sustainable Restaurant Association
Fish2Fork
Konstam
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In
Print, On Screen
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Do
Fish Feel Pain?
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While there has been increasing
interest in recent years in the welfare of farm animals,
fish are frequently thought to be different. In many
people's perception, fish, with their lack of facial
expressions or recognizable communication, are not seen
to count when it comes to welfare. In Do Fish Feel
Pain? biologist Victoria Braithwaite explores the
question of fish pain and suffering, explaining the
growing scientific evidence of fish behavior, and examining
the ethical questions about how we should treat these
animals.
Do
Fish Feel Pain?, Victoria Braithwaite, Oxford University
Press, 2010.
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The
Town that Food Saved
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Vermont farmer Ben Hewitt tells
the true story of a rural, working-class community which
jump-started its economy and redefined its self-image
through a local, self-sustaining food system unlike
anything else in America. Hewitt describes how the mostly
young entrepreneurs have created a network of community
support, and brings to life to the colorful characters
that drove the movement.
The
Town That Food Saved: How One Community Found Vitality
in Local Food, Ben Hewitt, Rodale Books, 2010.
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In
the Green Kitchen
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In the Green Kitchen presents essential cooking
techniques and more than 50 recipes for fresh, local,
and seasonal meals from Alice Waters - chef, champion
of the sustainable, and local cooking movement and Slow
Food International Vice-President. Waters starts by
demystifies the basics including steaming a vegetable,
dressing a salad, creating stock, filleting a fish,
roasting a chicken, and making bread.
In
the Green Kitchen: Techniques to Learn by Heart,
Alice Waters, Clarkson Potter, 2010.
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Local
Solutions for Global Disorder
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Released in France on April 7, Coline Serreau’s
latest documentary, Solutions Locales Pour un Désordre
Global examines the problems of our current approach
to food production, but without dwelling on the disastrous
situation facing us. The director focuses on a series
of alternatives to the present system, inviting us to
think about the environment, society and agriculture.
Serreau spent three years traveling with a film camera,
capturing a fascinating array of interviews. The world’s
major voices of agroecology, from Vandana Shiva to Serge
Latouche, explain their points of view and propose realistic
solutions to protect our health and the future of the
planet. The film never resorts to controversial arguments
but focuses on practical choices that can have immediate
positive effects.
Solutions
Locales Pour un Désordre Global, a film by
Coline Serreau, 2010, CINEMAO.
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Grabbing Africa’s
Land
In August 2009 King Abdullah
of Saudi Arabia celebrated Ethiopia’s first
rice harvest destined for his state, which was
soon followed by barley and wheat. Like the Gulf
states, the growing desert kingdom has decided
to tackle its food problems by buying up agricultural
land on the other side of the Red Sea, in the
Horn of Africa, in countries such as Ethiopia
where 10 million people are hungry, or Sudan,
where the immense tragedy in Darfur continues.
This theft of land and food from the poorest and
hungriest continent in the world is a recent phenomenon
and still not widely known. Millions of hectares
in Ethiopia, Ghana, Mali, Sudan and Madagascar
have been sold or leased for 20, 30 or 90 years
to China, India and South Korea in exchange for
vague promises of investment. South Korea already
owns 2.3 million hectares, China has bought 2.1,
Saudi Arabia 1.6, the United Arab Emirates 1.3.
Governments are the key players. On one side are
countries with money and a need for fertile soil.
On the other side are extremely poor governments
- often corrupt - which in exchange for some money,
technology and infrastructure, hand over the most
valuable resource of a still largely agricultural
continent: land.
At the same time, hardly any African small-scales
farmers own the earth that they live and work
on. Mostly, land has been cultivated and grazed
for generations without any formal contracts,
by observing local traditional rules, and is only
under private ownership in a small percentage
of cases. Rural people therefore have no binding
legal ownership over this land, and governments
can consider it 'unused' or available for sale
or rent regardless. In addition to governments,
there are the private investors who began looking
for more tangible investments following the financial
crisis. At the top of the list was land for food
and biofuels.
What happens when foreign investors arrive? There
is a move from traditional agriculture - based
on diversity, local varieties and communities
- to agribusiness, which means monocultures intended
for export (such as rice, soy, and palm oil for
biofuels) and a massive use of chemicals (fertilizers
and pesticides). And when the land has been completely
impoverished, foreign investors will simply move
on.
Carlo Petrini
Slow Food President
The Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity
has joined forces with a coalition of organizations
to protest against the recent increase in land
grabbing and denounce its support by the World
Bank.
Click
here for the full article on the Slow Food
website
Click
here for more information on the petition
or to sign.
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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
Burren
Slow Food Festival
Ireland
May 21 – 23, 2010
Terre
d’acqua
Rovigo, Italy
May 28 - 30 2010
Terra Madre Argentina
Buenos Airies, Argentina
July 8-11, 2010
Terra Madre Balkans
Sofia, Bulgaria
July 8-10, 2010
Janecka Vecer
Mavrovo National Park, Macedonia
July 26 - 27 2010
Salone del Gusto
Turin, Italy
October 21 -25, 2010
Terra Madre
Turin, Italy
October 21 -25, 2010
Terra
Madre Day
International
December 10, 2010
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Slow Food and
Terra Madre
in figures
Members: 100,000
Convivia: 1,300
Countries: 150
Presidia: 314
Ark of Taste products: 903
Earth Markets: 10
School gardens: 300
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