Slow Food Almanac 2015

This year, more than ever before, the Slow Food Almanac recounts what we are and what we are becoming through the concrete projects that our association is putting into action around the world. At the last International Congress, these projects were given numerical goals, which represent the three major strategic objectives towards which Slow Food will work in the coming years. Ten thousand products on the Ark of Taste, in other words biodiversity protection, because it is not possible to talk about access to good, clean and fair food for everyone if in the meantime humanity is losing its heritage of plant varieties, native livestock breeds and traditional food products. Ten thousand food gardens in Africa, in other words the construction of a Slow Food network in Africa, guided by African leaders, because it is not possible to talk about access to good, clean and fair food for everyone without dealing with the continent where the paradoxical limits of the current food system are most evident.

Ten thousand food communities and convivia, in other words the strengthening of the Slow Food and Terra Madre network, because it is not possible to talk about access to good, clean and fair food for everyone without the engagement and mobilization of the association and the entire Terra Madre network at every level.

Through stories gathered from all corners of the world, the Almanac demonstrates how the whole Slow Food and Terra Madre network is working towards these objectives with greater and greater commitment. It brings these stories to life: a simple coffee bean or from the water being used to irrigate an African food garden; the young Europeans demanding a healthier food system; the small-scale indigenous fishers in India who show that joy is essential to good, clean and fair food production; or our food communities, concrete expressions of “family farming”, a theme that we will continue to pay attention to long after the international year dedicated to it.

So as you click through the pages, we ask that you seize this joy, and discover those feelings that are found every day in the fields of the farmers that we want to safeguard. No label or packaging can ever describe it, but this “joyful production”, food made with the heart and the soul, is a fundamental part of the agriculture we want to define the future of food. We hope you enjoy this publication.

Click here to read.