Conscious Choice: The Terra Madre Journal

January 2007

The Terra Madre Journal

Reflections from local food leaders

Lalena Dolby, Senior Events Coordinator, Ecotrust

I have had a quiet, long distance longing for Terra Madre since I first learned of it when, at our annual Slow Food Potluck, the 2004 delegates, freshly returned from Torino, spoke about how Terra Madre changed their lives.

And so, this year, I came to the Oval Lingotto each day ready to be changed. Ready to have my eyes opened, to see all the ways in which we are the same and all the ways in which we are not, and to find the benefit in both.

Indeed, Terra Madre was all of this. In fact, it was almost too much to bear alone; too much for one to carry emotionally and too much for one’s mind to grasp. All at once, I felt humbled by the challenges posed by our global food system and ashamed by all of the ways in which my country is responsible for the struggles of so many people in so many lands. But mostly, I felt excited because I was surrounded by 5000 people who were all focused on the common goal of building food communities which are good, clean and fair.

I return from Terra Madre with renewed hope that widespread and deep change is possible and that it will happen only by the combined efforts of many small family farmers, fishers, ranchers, cheese makers and wine makers; through the thoughtful food choices being made by the next generation of eaters; and by employing the traditional knowledge of our elders. It will happen in many varied ways. But I leave Terra Madre feeling confident that there is no going back, that a future which values people, labor, tradition and quality food is possible.

Alan Mamoser, Southeast Environmental Task Force

I went to Terra Madre to meet farmers. It was billed as a farmers‚ conference and about half of the 5,000 people milling about the big convention center were actually farmers. They seemed lost amidst seminars, talks and panel discussions, much of it academic. But I found them seated at little tables, which stretched in long rows across the bare convention center floor. They were farmers from the five continents, many in the colorful dress of their countries. They set out seeds of all sorts: nuts, spices, grains, herbs, flowers, leaves, tree bark, what have you. The farmers were quite happy to chat about these things, to have me touch them, smell them, taste them and otherwise learn how they grow them on their little piece of earth, wherever that may be.

This universal collection of farmers met near another big convention center hosting Salone Del Gusto. It was filled with more farmers, food purveyors and chefs mixing earth‚s elements together into subtle flavors of high cuisine. Wandering through there, looking for lunch, I sensed the connection between their delicacies and the farmers‚ dry seeds. That was the joy of meeting farmers at Terra Madre, to see how all good flavors, all good foods, ultimately come from their hands, from the basic goods they take from the earth. I learned a little about how these farmers bring their dry seeds to life, in different ways, in different places, in the climates and conditions of their own lands. More deeply, I learned that the earth, in some ineffable way, shapes the people who work it, leaving a marvelous diversity.

Stan Schutte, Organic Farmer

I recently had a once in a lifetime opportunity to travel to Europe.

This was something that I never would have ever dreamed of doing. Most of my life has been spent working the farm, and more recently selling our products to a wide array of customers. Joel Smith and the Chicago Slow Food group made all this possible, I was one of several delegates from Illinois to travel to Italy for the Terra Madre.

As soon as I landed, it was apparent that this farm boy was going to have to rely on instincts never before used. My flights had been delayed on several occasions, so I arrived late in Turin to no welcoming committee. For someone who has trouble with English on occasion, and has never traveled in anything other than a pickup truck, I managed to round up a bus for a couple Euros. Needless to say, my adrenaline was in the red zone. After to what seemed a eternity, we arrived in a central bus station down town. It was apparent this was not my destination, so with luggage in hand, I proceeded to locate another bus. Two in one day, except for the school bus when I was a kid, this was more bussing that I had done in the last forty years. I must have looked like a Yankee in trouble to the locals, because even though I couldn’t speak Italian, they managed to get me pointed in the right direction.

Once I arrived at my destination, the challenge of getting there was soon forgotten. People from all over the world, 100 or so nations, with the same profession as mine, were gathered to discuss the same topic, FOOD. As I talked to people through out the conference, it was apparent that we all shared some of the same concerns. A young lady from Kenya made a lasting impression on me. We spoke for at least 30 minutes about organic farming and it’s challenges. I gave her my contact info, and she invited me to come to her country some day. I did manage to slip away one day, with the help of

Joel (he speaks Italian) to travel up in the mountains. We visited a goat dairy where we sampled Cheese, Wine, Breads, more Wine, and some home made stuff I can’t put in print.

This farm boy will never forget the people I met, and the experiences that I had in Italy. The most important thing that I will take away from it will be how we as humans can all agree on one thing, QUALITY FOOD.

Jim Slama, President Sustain

One of the most amazing elements of Terra Madre was the ability to connect with food producers from all over the world and taste their products. This occurred at the Salone de Gusto, the food Expo next-door that featured thousands of booths with unique and sometimes endangered food products. It was a treat to walk through the crowded aisles of the Salone and watch attendees experience culinary treasures such as dark beers and oysters from Germany or Chinese bamboo.

My own personal highlight was a tasting lunch offered by the region of Puglia, which is on the Adriatic in the Southeastern corner of Italy—on the heel of the boot. My mother’s family is from this region and she and I have traveled there in the past, discovering its rich cultural and gastronomic heritage. I was joined by Woody Tasch, Executive Director of the Investors Circle for two-hour tasting featuring peasant foods of the region paired with appropriate wines. I never knew pureed fava beans could taste so good! And the Braciola (rolled meat) with tomato sauce was something straight out of my grandmother’s kitchen. Of course the four different wines added to the experience—and made me want to return to Puglia.

Kelly Gibson, Slow Food USA Board of Directors, Founder Slow Food Chicago

As I sat in the Ovale Lingotto (the ice skating arena built for the 2005 Winter Olympics) listening to the Indian physicist and activist Vandana Shiva deliver her closing remarks, I looked around me at the large, incredibly diverse and rapt audience. To frequent bursts of enthusiastic applause, Ms. Shiva spoke about freedom – freedom for farmers to decide what they would grow, freedom from GMOs, and freedom to make decisions and act in ways that benefited them and their communities and preserved their way of life, rather than lining the pockets of the large multinational corporations that impact even the remotest corners of the globe.

At one point, Ms. Shiva spoke of the “fiction that $3 trillion dollars moving around the globe is wealth,” and that’s when I realized that in this arena there was a different kind of wealth - human capital that could change the world. Not only had Terra Madre created a worldwide network of 5,000 farmers and producers, 1,000 chefs, and 200 academicians, but behind those delegates stands an even larger network of Slow Food members who nominated them and raised the funds to send them to Torino. And behind them, an even greater network of consumers (or “co-producers,” in the words of Carlo Petrini) who attended Terra Madre fundraising dinners or simply wrote checks because they believe in the need for a change.

Could it be that we’ve reached the tipping point? As this growing network of people makes informed choices about their food, asking, “Is it good, clean and fair?” we create a greater, better kind of wealth for ourselves, our communities and our planet.

Lynn Peemoeller, Program Director, Sustain

It was a whirlwind of Italian officials, international flags, and colorful people in traditional outfits from all over the world at the opening ceremony of the second Terra Madre. The Lingotto, the massive trade center in Torino Italy was filled with delegates from food communities who traveled far and wide to be together for three days this weekend to talk about local food economies and the sustainability of food traditions.

This year over 7,000 food producers, chefs, and university delegates from 150 countries and 5 continents were in attendance. Before the opening ceremony began, people curiously commingled to the beat of world music. An informal marketplace formed on the trade floor with people milling about, Azerbaijanis displaying the unusual fruits of their country, African delegates displaying milk and yogurt from micro enterprise cooperatives, Native people of Peru and blue potatoes, and Malaysians selling pepper grown in their country.

Attending on my own as an observer I sat down next to two Australian women from Tasmania who had traveled to Italy just to experience the event as Observers. They giggled as we figured out how to use the translation headphones and said they felt like we were in the UN.

The opening was filled with blustery Italian officials who welcomed us again and again. A moment hushed across the crowded room when the President of Italy showed up with decorated officer escorts. He presided over the event with a serious look on his face. What a great symbol that the President can sit on stage to listen and support the farmers and peasants from his country.

Carlo Petrini, the founder of Slow Food and the real star of the event kicked it off. He spoke passionately about the second Terra Madre and the Slow Food movement. He welcomed the farmers, nomads, Shepards, and fisherman who had traveled far and acknowledged those from war torn countries that made it despite the odds, like the Iraqi representatives.

What makes Petrini so captivating is that he talks about local food economies as the future, not the past. He talks about the resurgence of the natural economy over the capital economy. “We will never produce good food if we stress the environment and rape it of its resources.” He says. The slow food principals are that food must be good, clean, and just. This is what Slow food is all about in the global sense and the delegates from Terra Madre represent this. Next in my writing, I want to explore what that means to the American consumers.

The opening ceremony continued on for three hours with impassioned leaders from Africa, Lebanon, Moldovia, and the US talking about the significance of Slow Food. The Australian ladies wandered off just before the Italian President came up to close the ceremony. I myself needed a café corto and got up to go find me some. Luckily in Italy, good coffee is not hard to find.

Day 2

I spent the morning what I now call the ‘church of Slow Food’ at a meeting of the US community. Hallelujah! The room was crowded with farmers, chefs, and academics from all over the United States. Erika Lesser the US Director for Slow Food welcomed us all and introduced our very own Slow Food visionary who is Alice Waters the founder of Chez Panisse in San Francisco and Vice President of Slow Food International.

One of the exciting things about participating in Slow Food is to experience the world according to Alice Waters. She has had a profound influence on food in America over the last 20 years. She is the Julia Child of this food generation and has been the champion of small food producers. She is known for a myriad of profound statements like “it’s a delicious revolution” or “ the best way to be an environmentalist is to have a passion and love for food.” She spoke this morning on a new concept for Slow Food USA called Slow Food Nation, which will be a national spin on Terra Madre to be held in San Francisco in 2008. The idea is to use Slow Food to bring together the entire food community and to make it a political force for change in America.

The next speaker was Michael Pollan another lyrical leader of the movement from the west coast. His point was short and succinct; Slow Food needs to change its image in America. People who are unfamiliar with it think it’s a dining club. But although it has its hedonism, being here in Torino at Terra Madre, it is obvious that it so much more than that, as Carlo Petrini its founder says, it is a world movement for good, clean, and fair food. It’s environmental, economic, and cultural. It’s about preserving our traditions for our future. So the goals of Slow Food for the next two years as they prepare for the Slow Food Nation event in the US will be to engage media, and the general public in the political movement around food and translate that into action. This is good news for America.

The stage was chockablock with leading thinkers from all over the country that spent time sharing information about what they were working on. A shrimping couple from Louisiana whose industry was devastated by Hurricane Katrina were particularly moving. They said, “After the hurricane the US government didn’t do anything to help us, it is was the Slow Food community that raised money and came to save us.” To me that’s really what this is all about- saving those very things from destruction that we need to continue the culture and biodiversity of our country.

If the US meeting was so stimulating, can you imagine what they were talking about in the other regional world meetings? I’m sure GMO issues came up. There has been at least one workshop on that per day. It is a very critical world issue, though there is so little information about it available in the main stream. I think I will try to experience a regional meeting from another country tomorrow, if they have translation available. Terra Madre has many workshop themes to choose from like agro-ecology, the economics of market access, and special meetings on topics on oil, bread, rice, tea, and so many more things that make up the majority of food traditions. The workshops seem to be mostly valued as knowledge sharing experiences and the presentations range from very formal academic, to hands-on demonstrations. At one workshop I saw an indigenous man from the Brazilian Amazon prepare manioc flour in a long-lost traditional way by hand. A translator explained how an NGO is helping him to package the product and set up a direct market where consumers understand the value of buying the traditional food.

The important thing to mention here is how overwhelming the entire event is. Not only is Terra Madre going on all day with a myriad of people and languages milling about, but directly next door in the (huge) former Fiat factory that Torino is know for, there is the Salone de Gusto. This trade show of hundreds of regional food producers sell and sample food from all over the world though most food featured is predominantly from Italy.

The Salone is open to the public is an amazing experience to walk through. Throngs of Italians flock from booth to booth sampling artesian cheeses, meats, sweets, oils, and wines. The intoxicating smells of procioutto, cheese and pastry fill the air. Now in it’s 6th edition, the Salone was actually the original event of Slow Food meant to showcase the traditional flavors of Italy. From its humble origins themes evolved like the Ark of Taste, Biodiversity, and the Presidia which has become a collection of local projects all over the world that work to improve the infrastructure of artesian food production.

I found the presidia booths to be the most interesting. Some of these food traditions are very rare and it is unlikely that they would still be in business if not for Slow Food. I tried so many things it’s a wonder my stomach is still working! It was also an exciting cultural exchange to talk with these people sometimes through translators and sometimes through sign language and learn about their food traditions. Some of the interesting foods I tried were: ‘Motal’, a goat cheese from Armenia cured in clay pots with beeswax and aged in caves for up to six months, ‘Rimbas’ black pepper cultivated in small villages in Malaysia, ‘Three Counties Perry’ a fermented drink made from the juice of perry pears, a traditional bitter fruit of England that is impossible to eat raw, ‘Roveja’, a small legume similar to the pea that is cultivated in the rocky mountains of the Marche region of Italy; today there are only two farmers known to still grow this at scale. ‘Argan Oil’ hand pressed from a berry similar to an olive traditionally made by women on the southern cost of Morocco. And the ‘Mullet Bottarga’ an air dried fish filet, another women’s traditional product from the nomadic fisherman of Mauritania. The people who make all this food are peasants and for most of them their trip to Torino was sponsored by individuals, organizations and other convivia.

So much to taste so little time!

Day 3

Experiencing local wines and antipasti at the Enoteca. The region is known for its Barbarescos and Brunellas. I have been drinking that every night. Good pasta included a long macaroni with chestnuts and porcini mushrooms. Cheese of course is abundant at diner I tried a particularly interesting pecorino of a deep yellow color flavored with saffron. Other antipasti included pickled vegetables and peperoncini stuffed with tuna.

The rich city of Torino also has a lot to offer. Recently cleaned up after the world Olympics earlier this year it is pleasant to stroll around. We have been lucky as the weather has been light and sunny. We walked through the old town and stopped at a famous piazza with a well-gilded church that is known for its historic paintings that depict local people who died tragically. Although sad, there was something innocent and amusing about the Madonna looking on over images of babies falling over banisters, and people mangled by vespas colliding with trolley cars, especially the way the artists captured the element of surprise on the faces.

Across the street is the Bicerin café, which has been around since the mid 18th century serving an astoundingly rich combination of coffee and hot chocolate with thick cream foam on top. What a treat to sit among the well-worn marble tabletops with friends!

There are so many wonderful people involved in the Slow Food movement. It is a collection of people who have interest in food based on many different experiences and interests. Some are into the gastronomy- the pure pleasure of eating and sourcing high quality food. Others are into the production of food and work hard to create and preserve food traditions. People like me get stimulated by the environmental and social activism that supporting food traditions has to offer. Many more are concerned about the future and want to find out what they can do.

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