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2007 -
International Slow Food NEWS |
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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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Editorial
Terra Madre Network
Slow
Food is proud to bring you the first edition of its new update on
its great network of the food communities, universities and cooks
that came together at the Terra Madre event in Turin in 2004 and
2006. Keeping in touch with each other’s activities round the world
will help us in the hard task of building an alternative view of
life. To relocate consumption, to save our culinary traditions, our
knowledge and our land, to sow the seeds of a virtuous
globalization. One that is
good, clean and fair.
Our network is built partly on alliances. We have to stay united and
broaden our contacts if we are to achieve tangible results. This is
why the network joins with that of the Slow Food movement, which, in
turn, has drawn new strength and inspiration from Terra Madre, thus
enriching its philosophy and developing new projects for the future.
Many of you have already created convivia (local branches of Slow
Food) or are working closely with a convivium that already exists in
your area, with cooks or with academics. Each helping hand is
appreciated, every voice will be listened to and every seed will be
welcomed to ensure that the harvest is various and abundant.
If the world still manages to resist, it’s thanks to people like
you!
Carlo
Petrini
WRITE FOR THE TERRA MADRE NEWSLETTER!
Send us your queries and your comments, share your stories and
experiences. We’ll publish them here. |
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What is Slow Food?
Slow Food & Terra Madre
Slow
Food is an international organization, founded in 1986 in Italy, to
counteract the spread of fast food and the frenzy of the fast life,
the disappearance of local food traditions and disinterest about
what we eat. It also believes that our choices in food have
consequences all over the world. Slow Food protects food
biodiversity, disseminates taste education and seeks to bring
consumers and producers together by promoting alternative
distribution channels. Today Slow Food has more than 80,000
supporters in 130 countries.
For more information: www.slowfood.com
To
restore dignity to the work of farmers, fisher folk, breeders and
artisan food producers all around the world and to safeguard the
right of peoples to food sovereignty and encourage a sustainable
model of agrifood production — for all these reasons Slow Food has
promoted the Terra Madre project, a world network of people who
exchange knowledge and experience and meet every two years in Turin
(Italy). Terra Madre fights the standardization of taste,
large-scale industrial agriculture and genetic manipulation, and
promotes collaboration between producers, cooks and academics to
change the way food is produced today.
For more information: www.terramadre2006.org
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.
JOIN SLOW FOOD!
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Projects
A Convivium of Farmers and Scientists in Russia
A
new Russian
convivium
has been set up in the ancient city of Suzdal. It is the brainchild
of a group of farmers and scientists who attended the Terra Madre
event in Turin, and now boasts journalists, restaurateurs and local
officials among its members, not to mention the farmers and
researchers of the Vladimir Institute for Agricultural Research,
founded in 1991, who are working together on a project to protect
local cereal varieties, goose breeds and traditional agricultural
methods. Suzdal, northeast of Moscow, is one of the oldest cities in
Russia. Encircled by the Kamenka River, it is well known for its
horticulture.
To contact the Suzdal Convivium,
contact the Convivium leader :
Konnov Nikolaj Petrovitch
Mail:
adm@vnish.elcom.ru
Convivium:
a local group of Slow Food members which organizes events and
coordinates projects to promote the Slow Food philosophy in its
region.
From Iceland to Piedmont, Northern Italy
Johanna B. Thorvaldsdóttir, a representative of a food community
that took part in Terra Madre 2006, and university researcher
Sigridur Johannesdottir, traveled from their homeland to Bra, Italy,
recently to meet Slow Food managers and producers of Cevrin di
Coazze (a local artisan
robiola
cheese). In Iceland, the knowledge of how to make traditional raw
goat’s milk cheeses was completely lost at the beginning of the
twentieth century, when the agricultural system was centralized and
industrialized.
The Icelandic community is working hard to recover this knowledge
and this is why Johanna and Sigridur have decided to visit small
Italian dairies. After meeting producers, they are now developing a
project to create a cheese processing workshop back in their
homeland. Slow Food will help them in their work and will lobby to
make the use of raw milk legal in Icelandic cheesemaking.
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Focus on...
Education
Taste is subjective,
but it is also something that can be acquired and trained. The
agrifood industry, which tends to standardize taste, knows this full
well. To address the phenomenon, which has serious consequences for
local areas and lifestyles, Slow Food has developed educational
programs for all. At Taste Workshops experts (vets, producers,
oenologists and so on) teach participants to taste and compare and
hence to ‘understand’ foods. School garden programs give children
the chance to learn ‘in the field’, out of doors.
Fishing Communities at the ‘Fish Tales’ Workshop
At
Slow Fish, the sustainable fishing event organized by Slow Food
(Genoa, Italy, 4-7 May 2007), representatives from Terra Madre
fishing communities played with their five senses at ‘Fish Tales’, a
sensory education program aimed at young people. Here Russian, South
American, Croatian, Japanese, African and French were given the
chance to enjoy and describe the aroma and flavor of three types of
‘humble’ fish and mullet fish roe.
The shape and texture of the flesh and the different aromas and
flavors identified and explained. For example, the faint odour of
mud of some mullets suggested that it is not a good idea to fish for
them close to a port. Comparisons were also made with fish species,
some of which relatively unfamiliar, from the participants’
homelands.
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Voices from Terra Madre
«People sometimes eat
whatever they can to sate their hunger, without asking where it
comes from. They’ve got to understand that they can eat what’s
produced locally because it’s good and because this way they can eat
better and help farmers to continue working in their fields.» ”
Mariam Ouattara Adiarratou,
fundadora del primer convivium Slow Food en Costa de Marfil.
To contact the Chigata Convivium, write to the convivium leader:
Mariam Ouattara Adiarratou
Mail: chigatafsdd@yahoo.fr
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Food Traditions
Quilombola Community of Aratu Gatherers
The majority of the
1,000 inhabitants of Santa Luzia de Itanhi, a small coastal town in
the state of Sergipe in northeast Brazil, are Quilombolas
(descendants of African slaves) whose livelihood is based on artisan
fishing and the gathering of aratu, a small, bright red crab-like
crustacean, which lives among the mangues, or mangroves.
Aratu are harvested, cleaned, blanched, shelled and sold directly to
buyers who supply the coastal restaurants. This process is carried
out manually by the women of the village, in precarious hygienic and
sanitary conditions.
The flesh of the aratu is used to prepare moqueca di aratu, a
traditional indigenous dish of the Sergipe mangrove forests. Moqueca
is a fish stew cooked in a terracotta pot and flavored with dendê,
or palm, oil, coconut milk, onions, peppers and coriander. It is
accompanied by steamed long-grain rice.
To contact the Brazilian aratu fishermen:
Daniel Freire do Amor Cardoso
Mail: danielfreiredoamor@yahoo.com.br
TELL US ABOUT YOUR TRADITIONS!
Describe your community, your regional dishes and the occasions for
which you eat them. We’ll post the best entries in this section.
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Your questions answered
"How can I create a Slow Food convivium where I live?"
If you share the ideas
of the movement and would like to contribute to the growth of Slow
Food while improving the situation in your own region, go ahead and
open a convivium! To open a convivium there must be at least five of
you, who together will form the founding committee. As a group you
must first identify the objectives and types of activities which you
wish to organize. At this stage, you can contact the Slow Food
International Office,
international@slowfood.com, with whom you will
sign the opening protocol. Following the presentation of the
convivium, we’ll put you in touch with other Slow Food members in
your own country and abroad. The geographical area coordinators at
the Slow Food International Office will be at your disposal for all
queries or requests.
Did you know…
Fighting GMOs in Europe
Slow
Food is puzzled and angry to learn that the case of consumers,
quality producers and all those working for a new sustainable model
for the food system — especially in the agricultural sector — has
been trampled upon for the umpteenth time. The European Union
Council of Agriculture ministers, in fact, has voted for a 0.9% GMO
tolerance threshold in products labeled as organic. And this has
happened against the desires of European citizens, who would have
preferred a threshold of 0.1% — virtually zero. It’s no coincidence
that the European Parliament had already voted in favor of the
minimum threshold passed an opinion setting by a broad majority.
The only countries which voted against were Belgium, Italy, Greece
and Hungary. Public outcry in Italy led the Minister of Agricultural
and Forestry Policy to present a draft decree at a meeting between
national government leaders and regional representatives. The decree
calls for an allowance of 0.1% GMO contamination in organic
products, a national readjustment to the European Community's
threshold.
Perhaps this is the only way forward: we all have to make our
protest felt to force our governments to rectify Europe’s absurd,
unjust decision. The problem of GMOs affects the whole world and
public protest is producing tangible results in other countries.
In the
MULTIMEDIA SECTION
of the Slow Food website you’ll find
photos,
videos and audio recordings from Terra
Madre 2006.
multimedia.slowfood.it |
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