Slow Food on restoring our relationship with nature at Terra Madre 2024
From September 26th to 30th in Turin’s Parco Dora (Italy) the international event Terra Madre Salone del Gusto 2024 will mobilize the energies of Slow Food’s delegates and activists gathering from over 120 countries to transform food systems.
Slow Food has identified five keywords that anchor the solutions to the multiple crises we face: Diversity – Community – Synergy – Justice – Knowledge
Let’s start off with……….
– Diversity –
Some data
Around the world, 75% of edible plant species have become extinct, while three cereals—wheat, rice, and corn—make up 60% of our food production.
Biodiversity in plants and animals matters because it holds the genetic abundance that we need to cope with the climate crisis and its extreme weather events.
Promoting food biodiversity by preserving, cultivating and integrating it in diets and food systems it is at the heart of what Slow Food does. Biodiversity is at the core of agroecology. Agroecological farming systems help combat the climate crisis and produce good, clean, and fair food for all, as has been acknowledged by several authoritative international scientific sources, one among them the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC 2019. Summary for policymakers. In: Climate Change and Land: an IPCC special report on climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems).
“Diversity is one of the keywords to explain Terra Madre and what Slow Food does every day”, explains Francesco Sottile, Slow Food Board Member. “It means adopting agroecological practices, listening to the territory, following local traditions, and preserving local products and richness. At Terra Madre specifically, diversity will be in the air: from the producers we will meet to the dishes we will taste, to the conferences we will listen to. And of course, that means food, the joy of eating, and experiencing Diversity with all your senses.”
Diversity at Terra Madre
During the Terra Madre Conferences, agroecology and diversity will be topics in panel discussions, exploring the consequences of the climate crisis on nature (Nature, the Climate Crisis, and Us: Are We at the Point of No Return? See more here) to the role biodiversity plays to ensure our future (Without Biodiversity, There Is No Life and No Future. See more here)
Diversity also means different gastronomic cultures that meet at the event, with more than 300 cooks from 30 countries who will offer a glimpse of their traditions and local recipes. Representatives from the Slow Food Cooks’ Alliance from Lesotho, Italy, Colombia, Philippines, North America, and Indigenous communities will turn the spotlight on how to celebrate biodiversity and cultural diversity in the kitchen, animating a rich program of Taste Workshops, Dinner Dates and other spots dedicated to them.
Last but not least, Diversity will have a place of honor in the international market, the place where producers of the Slow Food network present, explain, and sell their products. This year the market will feature more than 180 Presidia, small-scale producers who work every day to save local livestock breeds, heirloom fruit and vegetable varieties, traditional breads, cheeses, and cured meats.
Francesco Sottile continues: “Diversity – in plants, in animals and in humans – leads to complexity, and complexity makes any system more resilient. Things go wrong, mistakes are made, and circumstances change. In a complex system, the impact will be felt, but it will not be fatal, because the means to correct and rebalance the system are inherent in diversity. This is what our global network will witness at Terra Madre”.
Discover what Slow Food is doing to preserve and promoting food biodiversity here:
https://www.slowfood.com/
The 2024 edition of Terra Madre Salone del Gusto is made possible thanks to institutions and private entities that have already confirmed their support to date, including Main Partners: Turin Chamber of Commerce, Demeter, Iren, Lavazza Group, Pastificio Di Martino, Quality Beer Academy, Reale Mutua, UniCredit.
Inkind, Green, Area, Hospitality, Cultural Partners, and Supporters are listed here.
Plants, seeds & more delivered to your door!
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