Carlo Petrini, recently appointed FAO Special Ambassador, visits Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa

Carlo Petrini, Slow Food International President, will travel next week to Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa to meet representatives from local institutions and the Slow Food network there.

Petrini’s trip will be an opportunity to talk about the Ark of Taste, Slow Food’s international project created to save foods at risk of extinction and to safeguard the world’s agrobiodiversity. Through the 10,000 Gardens in Africa, Presidia and Ark of Taste projects, the campaign against land grabbing, and farmers markets, Slow Food actively supports the African communities who are fighting for freedom from hunger and the right to food.

The recent appointment of Carlo Petrini as the FAO Special Ambassador to Zero Hunger for Europe, reflects Slow Food’s contribution to ensure everyone has access to good, clean and fair food.

Petrini’s travel program includes many visits to Terra Madre food communities, Slow Food Presidia and several institutional meetings with FAO and IFAD’s officers in order to develop joint actions to improve the livelihood of rural communities and advocate for indigenous peoples’ issues.

This is also in view of the upcoming edition of Terra Madre Salone del Gusto, which will be held from September 22 to 26, 2016, in Turin, Italy. This will be the first year the event has been held outdoors, in some of the city’s most beautiful and important locations. It will bring together 5,000 delegates from 160 countries, giving a voice to producers who “love the earth” and putting them center stage.

KENYA        

Carlo Petrini will hold a conference in Nairobi on August 1, at 12:00 pm. The Ambassador of Italy in Nairobi, Mauro Massoni, will also attend. The event will be held at the Italian Institute of Culture: “Slow Food Kenya presents the Ark of Taste project and the International Congress Nakuru 2017”.

Carlo Petrini’s conference will focus on the Slow Food Ark of Taste in Kenya, presenting the first 50 products on board and announcing the next Slow Food International Congress, which will be held in Nakuru, Kenya, in June 2017. The Congress will set Slow Food’s mission in the years ahead and will bring together 600 Slow Food delegates from 120 countries.

On August 5, Petrini will visit Slow Food’s network in Nakuru. His visit will also serve as the launchpad for the first inauguration of the Slow Food Chefs’ Alliance in Kenya, a network of chefs who have signed an agreement to support small producers, the custodians of biodiversity, everyday by using products from Presidia projects and the Ark of Taste, as well as local fruits, vegetables and cheeses, in their kitchens.

TANZANIA

On August 6, Carlo Petrini will meet young people of the Slow Food Youth Network at Watoto Foundation in Arusha (11:00 am). Slow Food’s network will then prepare a lunch with traditional food at Themi Living Garden (12:00 pm).

On August 7, during the Agricultural Exhibition in Arusha, Petrini will hold a public conference near the Slow Food – Themi Educational Garden Stand (2:00 pm): “The Slow Food network in Tanzania: Ark of Taste, agro-ecological gardens and youth initiatives”.

On August 8, during the Agricultural Exhibition held in occasion of the Nane Nane Day Petrini will visit some Slow Food communities and school gardens involved in the 10,000 Gardens in Africa’s project, as the Maji Ya Chai Community Garden. The Nane Nane Day is a public holiday held on August 8 to celebrate the important contribution of farmers to the national Tanzanian economy.

On August 9, Carlo Petrini and the Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity will launch the new Nyori Honey Presidium, a kind of liquid honey produced by stingless bees in the village of Ngurdoto. Due to environmental degradation caused by land cultivation and construction, currently the honey is harvested by only a few people, from beehives created in logs and wooden boxes on homesteads. Nyori liquid honey is still produced by the Umangu community, which will prepare a collective lunch for the occasion.

SOUTH AFRICA 

On August 12, Petrini will meet producers from the South African Raw Milk Cheeses Presidium. In South Africa, there are few artisanal products, and even fewer raw-milk cheeses. The Presidium was established to protect and promote the few that do exist. Cheeses like Karoo Crumble, Ganzvlei Vastrap, Ficksburger and Huguenot are all very different from each other, offering unusual characteristics and reflecting their places of origin, the pastures where the animals have grazed and the passion and stories of the producers. Petrini will meet these cheesemakers, who are currently laying the foundations for what could become the South African tradition of artisanal cheeses.

At 10 am Petrini will hold a conference at The Clico Boutique Hotel in Johannesburg.

On August 16, at 10:00 am at the Bandwidth Barn at Lookout Hill in Khayelitsha, Carlo Petrini will meet Slow Food Cape Town’s network. It will be an important opportunity to discuss and exchange ideas with academics about Slow Food’s main projects: the Ark of Taste, Slow Food Presidia and the 10,000 Gardens in Africa.

A lunch will be held at 1:00 pm at Malibongwe Restaurant, where several local chefs will prepare traditional dishes, using products from Slow Food Presidia and the Slow Food Ark of Taste.