Convivium News

EXCLUSIVE – On February 25 the Congo’ s first Slow Food convivium — Convivium Kiwanja-R. D. Congo — was founded. To mark the occasion, leader
Leocadie Mukamuhigirwa organized an inauguration feast of Sombo, a local manioc-based specialty, and Karibu, a traditional pineapple drink.

A new Russian convivium has also been set up in the ancient city of Suzdal, northeast of Moscow, famous for its horticulture. It is the brainchild of a group of farmers and scientists returning from the Terra Madre event in Turin, and now boasts journalists, restaurateurs and local officials among its members, not to mention the peasants and researchers of the Vladimir Agricultural Scientific Research Institute, founded in 1990, who are collaborating on a project to protect local cereal varieties, goose breeds and traditional agricultural techniques.

February also saw the birth of a convivium in Puebla, the Mexican city which will host the Slow Food international congress in November. The inauguration was celebrated with a typical Mexican lunch attended by the Panama ambassador to Mexico, the Italian consul in Puebla, the National Secretaries of Rural Development, Economic Development and Culture and the Slow Food Mexico City Convivium.

New convivia have also opened recently in Djakarta (Indonesia), Macao (China) East Gippsland, Victoria (Australia) and Fleurieu Peninsula, South Australia (Australia).

Photo: the city of Suzdal