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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
Learning from our neighbors
International cooperation is one of the foundations of Slow
Food philosophy. Upholding this principle, Uganda recently
hosted a group of 25 farmers from Kenya to share skills and
knowledge. During the week-long visit, the Kenyans learned
about a different way of farming and realized they were
underutilizing their natural resources.
The main message conveyed by the host community was the need
to create a balance between the local interests of a country
and international interests: growing products for export
only provides benefits if you continue to satisfy the needs
of the domestic market at the same time. Cooperating and
diversifying agricultural production enables you to sell
products on foreign markets but it also allows you to defend
and protect the domestic market and traditional agricultural
methods.
Another useful lesson concerned energy resources. In Uganda,
Mrs. Loyumbya supplies her house with energy from the dung
produced by her cattle, showing that it is possible to use
biogas instead of wood fuel. The initial costs involved in
using biogas are certainly prohibitive for an individual,
but are acceptable if the community addresses the issue
cooperatively.
The host community showed it had made significant progress
in their fields and orchards: underutilized land had been
made productive, swampy fields had been converted into
nurseries and waste weeds were used as an excellent poultry
feed.
During their visit the Kenyans also learned from Haji
Zephunya that the production of passion fruit, a widespread
crop in Kenya, could be improved by using organic methods
that increase yields and reduce costs.
This meeting was an opportunity for shared experience and
discussion, highlighting the benefits of international
cooperation. The Kenyan farmers returned home confident and
inspired by their experience. They were particularly keen to
apply the lessons learned, illustrating the observation that
"only through sharing can you increase the efficiency of
your work, at the same time guaranteeing product quality and
traceability".
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Dear Friends
The main distinguishing feature of any network is the
interconnection between its participants. This was also a major
consideration when we constructed the Terra Madre network: we
wanted the communities to feel interconnected, able to stay in
continuous contact with each other and exchange information.
This frequency of interaction must become a reality, and while
the virtual world is certainly of strategic and functional help
in creating a network, it isn't enough.
"Creating a network" doesn't just mean this newsletter or
e-mails which communities send each other to exchange advice or
information. These are essential tools, but something else is
needed, something that is found during Terra Madre meetings and
can also emerge at other times and places. Having face-to-face
contact and visiting the actual places where people work are the
best ways of bringing a human element to the network, giving it
real substance and making exchanges more beneficial.
Visits, trips and specific practical activities implemented as a
result of Terra Madre are some of the most satisfying outcomes,
because they create and consolidate friendships. They support
our ideals of a world where good, clean and fair food prevails
and where the economy is at the service of human beings and not
vice versa.
There are beginning to be many interesting examples of joint
projects, specific initiatives and solutions to long-lasting
problems being found through the experiences of other
communities: this newsletter describes some significant ones.
The most striking thing is the simple fact that these people
meet each other, spend some time together and can physically
shake each other by the hand.
In past centuries, peasant communities ensured that plant
varieties developed, improved and adapted to the local area
through exchange—giving and receiving seeds from other villages,
thereby boosting the creative force of diversity. In a similar
way, a new seed is now beginning to feed global diversity: the
seed of humanity nurtured by the participants of Terra Madre. It
is an "emotional intelligence" which is made explicit and
powerful through our personal meetings. That is the true essence
of our network.
Carlo Petrini
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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Trans-Atlantic
friendship
"My name is Benjamin Fahrer and together with my wife
Gabriel, I attended the last edition of Terra Madre in Turin
as a delegate. It was an amazing experience and enabled us
to meet many people sharing our passion for producing
quality food.
One of our most rewarding connections was with
Alfredo Fasola, an Umbrian farmer with
whom we established a valuable relationship. This led me to
organize
For the Love of Food ~
Our Culture of Connection. From Umbria to California,
an exchange between Umbrian and Californian farmers, for the
lovers of good food.
A delegation of 12 Umbrian farmers came to California from
January 21 to February 1, 2008. They attended the Eco-Farm
Conference and we then accompanied them on a tour visiting
farmers and celebrating the pleasures of the table.
In exchange, our Umbrian friends are coordinating with their
regional government and farmer networks to host a delegation
of Californian farmers and chefs immediately following Terra
Madre 2008, in a visit to the foremost Italian region for
organic agriculture".
For more information on
the project, contact:
Benjamin Fahrer
pcdesigns@earthlink.net
or visit the website:
www.wiseearth.org
Focus on...
Gift economy
A gift economy refers to an economic system where goods and
services are supplied without any explicit agreement
regarding the immediate future or an expectation of a
quid pro quo. It is not rare to find
gift-based economies within cultures or subcultures which
offer social or non-material rewards in exchange for
generosity (such as karma, honor, loyalty or other forms of
gratitude). In some cases the gift may function to
redistribute goods within a community, becoming an
expression of reciprocal altruism.
Though there is no connection between the gift and economic
recompense, this does not necessarily mean it is free of any
expectations. The three obligations implicitly linked to the
concept of a gift (giving, receiving and giving something in
return) produce a social bond, consolidate the sense of
belonging and confer integrity to the group.
Food
is also shared
There are many examples of social groups which are partially
based on giving and sharing:
The American ethnologist Polly Wiessner, Professor in the
Department of Anthropology at the University of Utah and
author of many books and articles, has examined these issues
in detail. She studied the complex network of exchange that
developed between members of some populations and then
compared five different peoples for whom sharing is a
fundamental practice: the San of the Kalahari (straddling
South Africa, Namibia and Botswana), the Yanomami of
Amazonia, the inhabitants of the Trobriand Islands, the Eipo
and the Yalenang of New Guinea.
In all these cases it was found that sharing, particularly
the sharing of food, was an added way of creating and
consolidating social bonds.
Sharing meat, for example, is very important in
hunter-gatherer societies: it ensures there is a wide
distribution of protein among all the members of the group,
particularly during times of scarcity. This is well
illustrated in the case of the Yanomami, where a hunter who
does not share his prey with the other members of the group
loses his status as a hunter.
Co-operation and sharing, in varied forms, are also
widespread in many of our modern societies. Voluntary
service, and also the actions of solidarity that occur
within family groups, are a basic component of our economies
and many societies would collapse if deprived of these
activities.
 Slow
Food
key words
Food communities
Food communities are both a new and an old concept
proposed by Slow Food for the first time at Terra Madre
2004. A food community is a group of people operating in
the agrifood sector who produce, transform and
distribute food, and are distinguished by the quality
and sustainability of their products. Each food
community must have strong historical, social, economic
and cultural links to their local area.
Food communities, the crucial components of the Terra
Madre network, are of two types:
-
based on a local area,
when they produce several products, which may be very
different but are all connected to a defined
geographical area or indigenous ethnic group;
-
based on a product,
where the community is composed of all the farmers,
transformers and distributors involved in their
different capacities to produce the same product in a
specific area
Voices from
Terra Madre
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I will never forget the experience of Terra
Madre 2006 in Turin. I met so many people from
all over the world and now feel part of a vast
network of men and women similar to me who
showed interest in what I'm doing. |
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Jonette
Chapman
Delegate from New Zealand
jonette@ihug.co.nz |
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Food Traditions
Awarma
– Meat preserved following Lebanese tradition
Some food traditions are not only about food, but are about men
and women combining their efforts and working towards a common
goal.
Up until about the 1960s, in villages all around Lebanon, a
fat-tail sheep was force-fed for months before the cold winter
following an ancient tradition shared by all the population
irrespective of ethnicity or religion.
The sheep's main food was made of vine and mulberry leaves.
Usually the woman of the house took care of this task. She would
feed the sheep five times a day, every day. She would nurture
it, massage it, bath it, and even sing to it. The sheep became
totally dependent on the women, and thus became domesticated.
The sheep would become the talk of women among themselves. It
would almost take on a child-like existence. It would be fed
enough for him to become three times his original size with a
huge tail full of fat called liyee.
When the weather became cooler, around mid-September, the sheep
was slaughtered. Psychologically, this had an affect on the
woman who had nurtured him for so many months. Her only
consolation was that the by-product of the sheep would
ultimately feed her family for a whole year and help them cope
with the harsh winter.
The day of the slaughter was a big event in the village. Tables
were set for a feast with a lavish
mezze,
including many different recipes containing raw meat. Every part
of the sheep was used for consumption and awarma was made for
preservation. The traditional recipe calls for 1/3 meat and 2/3
fat. The fat is melted then the meat is added and cooked slowly
over a low heat until the meat becomes tender. In the past, the
finished product was poured into large earthenware jars. After
cooling it was covered with solid earth and a cloth to keep the
meat from spoiling. These jars were stored in a cool, dry place.
Today, awarma is still prepared, not so much for meat
preservation, but for the exquisite taste that the recipe
provides. It is very much appreciated in soups, in pies, and is
typically fried with eggs in the traditional fakr, a circular
pottery vessel.
Barbara Massaad
barbaram@cyberia.net.lb
Mezze,
of Lebanese origin but now common throughout the Middle East,
consists of 40 small dishes based on fish, meat and vegetables.
It is served as an antipasto and usually accompanied by arak, a
traditional alcoholic beverage based on anise which is diluted
with water and ice.
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
Your Questions Answered
Dear Friends of Terra Madre, In the wake of the wonderful things
being done
on the politics of food around the world, I'm trying to develop
a curriculum
which includes courses on sociology and the politics of food.
This is an
initial step towards hopefully creating a university department
focusing
on various issues regarding food (sustainability, heritage,
history and
politics, methods and traditions and so forth).
If anyone has already started such an endeavor and is willing to
share,
I would very much appreciate syllabi or ideas on related topics.
Best Slow Wishes,
Nimrod Luz
Lecturer in Cultural Geography and Politics at Western Galilee
College, Akko, Israel.
nimrodluz@hotmail.com
To succeed in his project, Nimrod Luz would like help
from people in the Terra Madre network. Please don't
hesitate to get in touch if you can provide any advice,
suggestions or information that might be useful for
Nimrod. His request has already been forwarded by email
to academics in the network. Nimrod has given an example
of some of the first suggestions received:
"It is with great pleasure that I share with you some of
the wonderful responses I have received so far. First
and foremost it was great to learn that there are so
many people out there who are thinking about how to make
a change and strive together for the same goals.
I received responses from colleagues in Spain, Brazil,
Germany, UK and the USA. Dr. Ursula Hudson from the
German Academy for Culinary Studies told me about their
three-year program in Food Management and Culinary
Studies. At the University of New Hampshire, they are
finalizing a double major in Eco-Gastronomy (thank you
for that Prof. Celentano). Michael Pollan, Professor of
Journalism at Berkeley University, California, referred
me to his wonderful
site which, in addition to all his
writing (in itself a wonderful source of ideas for my
project), also has syllabi on related courses".
Did You Know that?
Food
Down The Road
Increasing numbers of people around the world are becoming
aware of the importance of local produce. Those involved in
promoting local food stress its undeniable advantages: local
food is more suitable for supplying seasonal products, it is
more controllable (with regard to its origin,
characteristics and methods of production), and its use
reduces the number of food miles.
Food down the road, based in Kingston (Ontario, Canada), is
an excellent example. It is a broadly-based, diversified
movement formed in 2006 through the efforts of the National
Farmers' Union (NFU) and other local organizations involved
in promoting sustainable farming and food.
The creation of the Food down the road network has seen
significant events being organized and an establishment of
an Internet site. These initiatives aim to create a strong
local food system (considered to be food grown within 100
km). The site
www.fooddowntheroad.ca contains some
very useful resources. These include: The
ABCs
of Local Food,
Take
Action: an action guide helping
create a local sustainable food system,
Seasonal Food Chart: a diagram of
seasonal foods to find out what you can eat at various times
of the year and the
Local Food Locator:
a clever map displaying the location of producers in a
particular area, with information about what they produce
and how to contact them.
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