Terra Madre meets Salone del Gusto

This year the two major events in the Slow Food calendar—Salone del Gusto and Terra Madre—will come together as one at the Lingotto Fiere Exhibition Center in Torino from October 23 to 26. A series of conferences have been organized to celebrate the marriage. The first will be entitled ‘The New Slow Food Presidia Project in Italy’ (Lingotto, pav.3, Sala Cittaslow) and will taken place on Friday October 24 at 12noon.

Born in late 1998 and presented for the first time at the Salone del Gusto in 2000, Slow Food Presidia are one of the most significant projects created in recent years to defend Italian agricultural and food biodiversity. There are now more than 100 projects in the international Slow Food Presidia network. In Italy a new phase of the project is seeking to consolidate the alliance between producers and Slow Food, define ambitious new objectives to secure ‘good, clean and fair’ food and, for the first time, propose a label to clearly identify products fully complying with the commitments undertaken.

Speakers will be Roberto Burdese, coordinator of the GMO-Free Italy-Europe Coalition and president of Slow Food Italy; Federico Santamaria, food producer and coordinator of Ligurian Slow Food Presidia; Marilù Monte, food producer and coordinator of Slow Food Monreale White Plums Presidium; Massimo Spigaroli, food producer and coordinator of the Slow Food Culatello di Zibello

A second conference, again at 12 noon on Friday October 24, will be dedicated to ‘The Future of the Climate and Food’ (Lingotto, Sala Gialla). Following the Manifesto on the Future of Food in 2003, and the Manifesto on the Future of Seeds in 2006, the International Commission on the Future of Food and Agriculture, set up by the Tuscany Regional Authority and chaired by Vandana Shiva, now presents the Manifesto on Climate Change and the Future of Food Security.

This essential document sums up the main problems and offers potential solutions to reverse the ongoing trend. Speakers will be Carlo Petrini, president of Slow Food; Vandana Shiva, activist, scientist, vice-president of Slow Food and president of the International Commission on the Future of Food and Agriculture; Claudio Martini, president of the Tuscany Regional Authority.

The meeting will be moderated by Berward Geier, member of the International Commission for the Future of Food and Agriculture and director of the German consultancy company Colabora.

For more information please visit www.salonedelgusto.com or www.terramadre.org