For the past few days, I attended Terra Madre, the very large (7000 people, 153 countries represented) Slow Food meeting in Torino Italy as a U.S. delegate but had the added benefit of also attending Salone del Gusto, a gourmet/artisan food festival held simultaneously and in the same venue. The opening ceremony for Terra Madre was quite grand and held at the Olympic stadium for the Winter Olympics in 2006. Carlo Petrini, godfather of slow food, and Vandana Shiva, anti-technology and GMO (genetically modified organism) hero, both spoke to the crowd, but the most amazing part was the music played from around the world and the flag procession, in which a native of the country carried their flag wearing traditional clothing. It was quite incredible to have 153 countries represented and says a lot about how the world is feeling about the global food system.
terra madre
The opening ceremony set the tone for the rest of the meeting – no GMOs, no chemicals, no pesticides. No ifs ands or buts about it. There was not too much scientific evidence presented, just passion in all its grassroots glory. I dont think scientific data is really the point of Terra Madre anyhow. Vindana said that GMOs did not promote more food production and that it was “a fact.” In her manifesto, she does not just count absolute tons of maize produced but the cultural and social fabrics that have been lost. Perhaps she is right, but to say that it is a fact may be a bit overstated. She was also quite negative about the African Green Revolution, which was disappointing. The Asian Green Revolution was not a perfect model by any means – so can’t we take the mistakes from the last revolution and at least try to make it better for Africa’s sake? Small holder farmers in much of Africa are struggling. I am a HUGE advocate of biodiversity and its subsequent diet diversity, but reason, evidence and rationale are needed to feed 6 billion souls high quality foods right now. I am not sure if bashing on companies who use technology without much care for diversity, is the most productive approach. Manifestos were passed out, with lead writer Vandana, on topics of climate change and the future of food, and the future of seed. You can find the manifestos here.
I also attended the US delegate meeting. Alice Waters opened and I always find her thoughtful and engaging. She signifies what slow food is all about. Josh Viertel, the new president of Slow Food, is a great story teller but has a lot of work ahead of him to really make an impact in the United States this coming year. In a world of fast food and fast eaters, and fat people, the slow food approach has not sunken in. Josh – i wish you luck.
US Delegate Meeting
I attended earth workshops of bee keeping, food security, climate change, Africa foods and others. Many had the same tone that GMOs were very bad and that farmers need to take back their communities and promote biodiversity. Biodiversity is key and is being lost by the day. But about GMOs and their reputation. GMOs could very well be “bad” but again, the science should be presented at these meetings, particularly to the youth who attend the meeting. Do it for the kids! I am not against what they are saying. I want to eat wholesome, unmanipulated, chemical and pesticide free food too. But when presenting anything as complex as our food system, it is always more productive to get many players to the table. The big companies and multinational agencies are here to stay. We need to learn to work with them and find a way forward together. Projecting a photo of two random wall street guys looking at numbers on the stock exchange and saying they are evil and have a plan to destroy bees, is not exactly productive or true (which is what they did at the bee seminar…).
pulito
One of the coolest aspects of the fair was the Slow Food Presidia that are funded and promoted by the Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity. The program focuses on biodiverse projects of small scale producers from around the world demonstrating all aspects of Slow Food – good, clean and fair. There were very unique, rare products being promoted by local farmers such as lost cereals, diverse potatoes from peru, poultry and goat breeds, cheeses, honey in ethiopia etc etc. Textiles were also being promoted as part of this year’s Terra Madre.
slow food presidia projects map
Salone del Gusto hosts “neogastronomes” and it was so crowded I could barely stand it, being a slight clostraphobe. I always find conferences funny. When there is something free on a table, people are like ravenous wolves and will claw their way to get at whatever it is just because it is there and free. Salone, with all its high class ecogastrons was NO exception. People were like hungry beasts. So much for slow food. There was pushing, there was shoving, there was knocking people over, just to get a little 1 inch by 1 inch piece of bread with some olive oil drizzled on it. Isn’t this standard fare for Italians? If there was a piece of cured meat sitting out on a plate, forgeddaboudit.
Derek posted a great blog on the event here. and some more photos are here.
