Campaigns

Slow Food works to educate and motivate young people to take an active interest and role in their food future, and to find opportunities for knowledge to be passed down by elders in communities around the world to the next generation. 

Grandmothers’ Day is celebrated by Slow Food in Ireland on April 16 to draw attention to the importance of preserving and passing on precious knowledge and skills at risk of being lost from older generations. Through a wide range of events, activities and competitions, children can discover some of the wisdoms and skills from their grandparents era; whether it be through learning about plants and herbs, cooking a meal, preserving the season’s produce or sharing stories. 

Hundreds of School Garden projects have been taken up by Slow Food convivia and food communities around the world, involving the community in their work to develop productive food gardens and to introduce taste education with their local schools. These gardens encourage the passing on of knowledge from one generation to the next, usually involving grandparents and other elderly volunteers who have many of the necessary skills and knowledge.

Slow Food on Campus was launched in America in 2006 and since has had great success, with over 65 on Campus groups nationwide today. Run by students, these chapters engage their communities and the next generation of Slow Food leaders by working towards a good, clean, and fair food system. Slow Food on Campus members represent a passionate cross-section of youth addressing food system and food justice issues, spanning environmental and social causes.

Slow Food on Campus was also launched in the UK and Canada in 2010.

The Slow Food Youth Network (SFYN) was launched in 2007 at the fifth International Slow Food Congress to formalize a global alliance of youth in support of Slow Food’s values, bringing together students from the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Italy and other universities with young farmers, chefs and activists from around the world. In 2011 the Slow Food Youth Network established the CAP2013.org website as part of their important contribution to the campaign for a better, cleaner and more fair Common Agricultural Policy for Europe. A 3-day SFYN conference was held in December 2011.

Terra Madre Youth  joined the global Terra Madre network at the international meeting in 2008 with the participation of one thousand young farmers, food producers, chefs, students and activists. By bringing young people into the Terra Madre network, the aim is to help ensure that food and agriculture knowledge can be handed from one generation to the next, and that it will be preserved for a new generation of active and involved leaders. The first independent gathering of the Terra Madre Youth took place in Tours, France in November 2009, with more than 300 delegates coming together for Terra Madre Young Europeans.