Indigenous Terra Madre forum in Hualien, Taiwan

In December 2019, Hualien County held the first Indigenous Terra Madre and the International Forum. Many Slow Food communities shared their experiences and discussed the future development of Slow Food and the Indigenous Communities. 

Two years later, in December 2021, the second Indigenous Terra Madre in Hualien invited local and foreign Slow Food Communities to exchange their experiences through virtual and physical meetings. 

This year, we focused on indigenous cooks and selected fourteen of them. Each of the cooks preserves one kind of traditional skill from elders. The hope is that this event opens the door to the creation of the first indigenous cook alliance in the world. 

Chefs from Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, India, and local indigenous chefs shared how they implement the Slow Food philosophy in their cuisines. The main goal of this event was to promote the Indigenous food culture in Hualien and make more people understand where their food is grown, who made it, and how to preserve it.

The concept of Slow Food is based around a central core: Together for Good, Clean, and Fair food. This motto is close to the traditional food culture of Indigenous people. 

The mayor of Hualien county, Chen-Wei, said: “The development of Indigenous Slow Food Community in Hualien needs to have a base set on the value of culture and the implementation of the idea.” 

In 2020 Hualien Slow Food Community founded the first “Indigenous Wild Vegetable Center” around Taiwan. This project is the result of the 1st Terra Madre held there. “Hualien needs to combine environment and food for promoting indigenous slow food” into practice.

After the pandemic, we hope all international Slow Food Communities can come to Hualien to taste our food and explore our tradition.