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The newsletter for all members of the Terra Madre
network, defenders of sustainable
agriculture, fishing and breeding
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Projects
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Natural Fibers |
For the first time, the 2008 edition of Terra Madre will
host a representative group of natural fiber producers
alongside the network of food communities. In a world
where natural fibers are steadily losing ground, it is
important that consumers are made aware of their value.
Natural fibers are those fibers found directly in nature,
which human beings gather and process (generally classified
according to their animal, vegetable or mineral origin).
The group of producers representative of the world’s
main natural textiles attending the meeting this year,
intend to create an initial ‘textile network’.
The network aims to protect and promote natural fibers
and educate consumers - or as Slow Food calls them, co-producers.
With their participation, Slow Food is ‘extending’
its philosophy to the textile sector, demonstrating that
local communities and subsistence economies are globally
interconnected.
The following natural fibers will be present at Terra
Madre 2008: wool, goat fibers (cashmere, mohair), fibers
from South American camelides, silk, cotton, linen, hemp
and jute.
Fibre producers attending Terra Madre 2008 will participate
in the Natural Fibers Workshop to explore how to create
a slow approach to textile fiber production.
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Reconstructing Bread in Zeeland |
Twenty years ago, a group of
young Dutch farmers started the Zeeuwse Vlegel collective
to bring back organic and traditional grain farming and
quality bread production to Zeeland—a region once
known for its high quality flour.
“With strong links to the area’s farming history,
we aim to proactively ‘reconstruct agriculture’,
using tradition to build a sustainable future.”
says Joor De Koeijer, coordinator of the Zeeuwse Vlegel.
“Today our community includes 17 grain farmers,
two local mills, and eighty bakeries who sell Zeeuwse
Vlegel bread. The wheat is farmed organically. In
a positive flow-on effect, many farmers who started with
us have now transformed their farms into 100 percent organic
operations. It has not been easy, but we are finally receiving
a very enthusiastic response, bringing consumers and farmers
closer together and helping to build a more environmentally
and economically sustainable future for agriculture in
the region.”
“Now Slow Food Netherlands is helping to ensure
that good, clean and fair producers receive the respect
they deserve through events such as Terra Madre Nederland.
It was an extremely happy day for us to participate in
this first national Slow Food event.”
For information, contact:
Joor De Koeijer
Coordinator Zeeuwse Vlegel
Zeeuwsevlegel@hetnet.nl
Focus on...
Youth Food Movement
Launched at the Fifth International Slow Food Congress
in Puebla, Mexico, in 2007, the Youth Food Movement (YFM)
is the brainchild of students from the University of Gastronomic
Sciences in Italy, Slow Food USA and an enthusiastic group
of students from various American universities, presenting
their vision of a sustainable future. The YFM is now a
global alliance of young people working for good, clean
and fair food, intent on creating opportunities for interaction
and sharing information at a global level.
From the first convivium of students in Kenya to the inaugural
Real Food Summit at Yale University, a movement is developing
around the globe. Students and producers are beginning
to communicate and realize that there are young people
in all corners of the world who are keen to get involved
in Slow Food activities and find their own unique way
of promoting its philosophy.
While the YFM is still in early days, as it grows it will
be open to various forms of interpretation and action
by young people in different places. 1500 young producers,
cooks and students will attend the Terra Madre 2008 meeting
in Turin.
For further information, write to:
yfm@slowfood.it
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Pangea: the Ark of Knowledge
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Pangea, one of the
YFM’s main projects, is a training program for young
people (farmers, cooks and students) aiming to develop
exchanges and knowledge sharing.
In the Pangea: The Ark of Knowledge project,
a network of people and places is forming to provide information
and share traditions, transmitting knowledge to young
farmers, chefs, students and activists. By opening farms,
restaurants, vineyards, workshops, and fields to the next
generation, it will be possible to ensure that the non-documented
wisdom of small farmers, fishermen, restaurateurs and
producers will not be lost forever.
The very first Pangea exchanges occurred this summer,
with young people traveling to learn from producers in
the Terra Madre network: from discovering how to obtain
the sweet syrup from Sicilian manna ash trees to wild
shrimp fishing off the coast of Louisiana. We are looking
forward to hearing more about these experiences when the
participants speak at Terra Madre during the youth seminar
- a fitting occasion to officially launch this latest
Slow initiative.
Communities who would like to be involved in this
project, or for further information, please write to:
yfm@slowfood.it
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Slow Food
key words |
Sounds of Terra Madre
The inaugural Sounds
of Terra Madre concert will be held in Turin
this year as part of the Terra Madre program - presenting
‘non professional’ musicians and dancers from
food communities in an authentic expression of musical
cultures uncontaminated by the music business. With music
exposed to the same risks of globalization as food, the
idea is to add another area to the Terra Madre network
- representing sounds and music from the farming and rural
world.
Everything is connected in the Terra Madre world, and
music – along with street performance, vigils, secular
and religious festivals - has always been interwoven with
the rural ‘seasons’. Songs and folk music
have had strong links to the earth and food production,
and music was always a crucial part of life: it cured,
pacified and brought pleasure - just as good food does.
Above all it brought people together socially, and helped
individuals to feel part of a community..
Voices from
Terra Madre
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After attending Terra Madre 2006, I returned
home to Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais (Brazil),
overflowing with emotions and hope, and still
spellbound by the magic of the event.
The beauty of difference - the diversity of
open hearted people and their discussions,
clothes, thoughts, and customs – and
harmonious because it was united by food.
I thank Carlo Petrini, who taught us to see
that our planet rests within each dish, and
also Slow Food for enabling me to experience
Terra Madre. |
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Márcia C Nunes
Cook of Terra Madre.
donalucinha@donalucinha.com.br
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Food Traditions
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Yams,
(Dioscorea species) |
Yam is a generic name used for various plants belonging
to the Dioscoreaceae family. The term also refers to the
tuber itself, which is eaten as food. It is a traditional
product with a very high content of carbohydrates and
other important nutrients. Yams are traditionally gathered
using a sharp stick to extract them from the ground. In
Kenya, they are one of the staple local foods, eaten boiled
as a main dish or roasted for a snack. They are a highly
regarded crop but very expensive due to low production
volumes and scarcity. Yams are also thought to help improve
elderly people’s memory: for this purpose they ground
in a mortar and eaten in powder form.
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TELL US ABOUT
YOUR TRADITIONS!
Describe your community,
your regional dishes and the occasions
on which you eat them. We'll post
the best entries in this section:
communication@slowfood.com
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Your Questions Answered
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Dear
Fellow Cheesemakers,
I have published a petition on the internet
to legalize the sale of raw milk in Norway.
It has the support of three organizations:
OIKOS, the Norwegian organic farming organization
; Norsk Bonde og Småbrukarlag, the
organization of Norwegian small farmers;
Norsk Gardsost, the association of Norwegian
artisan cheesemakers; and also Slow Food,
represented by Ove Fosså, leader of
the Norwegian Ark of Taste. Recent legislation
seems to offer a small ray of hope. We need
to keep up the campaign. Could you also
help by signing this petition?
It would be much appreciated.
Pascale
Baudonnel
Terra Madre delegate and producer belonging
to the Geitost goat cheese Presidium.
pascale@gardsost.no
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If you want to support Pascale,
go to the website Ja
til sal av rå, fersk mjølk! (Yes to
the sale of raw milk) which hosts the petition , and
complete the form:
Ditt navn = name
Epostadresse = email address
Bosted = place of residence
Skriv inn koden til venstre = Enter the code
you see in the box on the left (to prevent it being
signed automatically by a computer program)
Click on Signer opprop = sign the petition
Your email address is only requested to prevent people
signing twice.
Slow Food has been strongly involved in the campaign
to support raw milk for some time.
In 2001, during the Cheese event, a campaign for defending
raw milk cheese was presented. The Slow
Food Manifesto in defense of raw milk cheese was
signed by more than 20 000 people and its great success
restored dignity to a large number of international
dairy products.
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While the ambitious
UN millennium plan aims to halve the number of
people suffering from hunger in the world by the
year 2015, a new, unforeseen problem has emerged
regarding food prices and shortages.
In 2007, an unprecedented decline in world food
supply saw the world reserves of cereal grains
reduced dramatically and global food prices rise
by 40 percent. For developing countries, this
signifies a serious risk that even more people
will struggle to access food.
In Africa, serious food shortages and inflation
are bringing unprecedented riots and protests
to a continent which has already seen much turmoil
and suffering. Poor decision making and management
have resulted in destruction and deterioration
of the environment, biodiversity and agricultural
land, while the colonial influence greatly eroded
the pride and traditions of many cultures.
Across most of Africa, diversity in food production
has traditionally provided insurance against unpredictable
conditions. Food producers integrate mixed-crop
farming and livestock rearing and the cuisine
is based on the resulting variety of fresh produce.
However, the push for modernity has seen the food
resource base reduced to far fewer crops and diets
become similarly limited. Today in Kenya, a corn
shortage is equal to a food shortage.
Nations are looking to do everything possible
to source food and avoid famine in this current
situation. However, aid and international trade
policies often open the window to outside powers
to influence these countries’ agricultural
futures, by introducing genetically modified crops
for instance. In addition, when recipient countries
do not control the type and quantities of food
aid, ‘dumping’ can occur, damaging
farmers’ livelihoods and the local economy.
Small-scale farmers facing increased input costs
and competition from ‘cheap’ food
sourced from highly subsidized farmers in developed
countries cannot compete and may turn to planting
crops for biofuel companies or other multinationals.
For many, biofuels represent a new attempt to
spread an agro-industrial model across Africa,
which will increase deforestation, and loss of
biodiversity and take more and more valuable productive
land and water from small-scale farmers, thus
devastating local food sovereignty. Biofuels can
provide some opportunities, but viable agricultural
programs that are based on local production and
consumption should be prioritized. On the contrary,
most of the policy discussions around biofuels
are focused on production for export.
Several organizations are collaborating with Slow
Food to promote sustainable agriculture and local
food traditions in Africa. Slow Food convivia
are working hand-in-hand with Terra Madre food
communities, a variety of rural community groups
and regional sustainable agriculture organizations
to strengthen community capacity in food production.
These partnerships are working to reintroduce
local foods, develop relationships between food
producers and cooks and create educational programs
such as school gardens where students learn through
hands-on experiences.
It is through working together in this way that
we can hope to defend farming systems that are
appropriate to the region, the health and security
of local communities and which safeguard biodiversity
and protect water resources and soil fertility.
It’s my hope that we shall continue to strengthen
these projects and collaboration to build a democratic
farming system in Africa and to mitigate the impacts
of the global food crisis on livelihoods and cultures
across the continent.
John Kariuki
John Kariuki is a student at the
University of Gastronomic Sciences in Italy and
Slow Food International vice-president.
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Join
a great international community that defends sustainable
agriculture, fishing and breeding.
Celebrate the pleasure that the finest foods in
the world offer us in all their variety
servicecentre
@slowfood.com |
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Did
You Know that?
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The other reason for the floods
in Tabasco |
Evidently, the floods that ravaged 80% of Tabasco State (Mexico)
last October may not have been a chance event due to natural
causes.
Data provided by the National Water Commission (Conagua)
in fact show that the rainfall at the end of October 2007, though
abundant, was not above the average of the last 10 years.
This contradicts the official line presented by President Calderon,
who blamed the disaster on the massive rainfall and the lunar
cycle.
Another hypothesis has been put forward. During the torrential
rain, the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) gave an urgent
order to open the last of the four dams (the Penitas) on the
River Grijalva, which flows from Chapas to Tabasco. Technicians
said it was necessary to release water because if it overflowed
it could damage the dam. But this operation rapidly and dangerously
raised the water levels of the Grijalva. Some days later on
November 4, a few kilometers downstream from the Penitas dam,
a landslide fell into the swollen river, causing a surge which
buried an entire village and resulting in 25 deaths.
Why wasn't the Penitas dam emptied earlier and more gradually?
The reason put forward by Il Manifesto, an important Italian
daily paper, is horrifying. Releasing water from the dam would
have meant passing it through the turbines, i.e. generating
electricity. But a few hundred kilometers away, at the border
between Tabasco and Campeche—another Mexican state—there
is the largest private turbogas power station. And the CFE has
a contract with its managing company requiring the Mexican government
to purchase energy until 2015. It is therefore necessary to
produce less public energy and to do this, at least in the case
of a hydroelectric power station, you need to hold back more
water. Anything else doesn't matter, even the consequences of
floods.
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