A large delegation of over 200 people from the USA is set to take part in Terra Madre Salone del Gusto in Turin, Italy from September 22 to 26
Organized by Slow Food, the region of Piedmont and the city of Turin, Terra Madre Salone del Gusto, this year in its 11th edition, is the most important international event dedicated to food culture. 5,000 delegates from 160 countries, over 800 exhibitors, 300 Slow Food Presidia and 500 Terra Madre food communities will take part in the event.
Meet the Delegates from the USA
Slow Food USA delegation to Terra Madre Salone del Gusto 2016 consists of producers, chefs, teachers, farmers, writers, gardeners, botanists and ranchers committed to Loving the Earth and changing the food system for the better. Here below we report the story of three of them. To discover their faces and stories click here!
Crystal Stevens – Slow Food St. Louis, Missouri
Crystal Stevens is the author of Grow Create Inspire. She is a diversified vegetable CSA farmer, herbalist, artist, educator and freelance writer. She is a blogger for Mother Earth News and has contributed to, among others, The Healthy Planet Magazine and Permaculture Magazine. Crystal and her husband Eric manage a CSA Farm with their two children on the bluffs of the Mississippi River in Illinois.
Nat Bletter – Slow Food Oahu, Hawaii
Nat Bletter leads Slow Food Oahu’s seasonal foraging events, introducing the public to edible plants, seeds, fruit, and flowers growing in the wild. Nat, through his business Madre Chocolate, is a force in helping Hawaii farmers cultivate cacao. His efforts spread across the Pacific to Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands, where he and his partner have been teaching cacao growers how to improve their cacao product/processing to make it more marketable. He is working to get these indigenous, under-represented people recognition for their hard work. For the first time, the growers were able to taste a chocolate bar made from their cacao!
Shiloh Maples – Slow Food Turtle Island
Shiloh Maples is joining the event as a part of Slow Food Turtle Island, which focuses on the First Foods of the Native Peoples of Turtle Island. She is coordinating a community-based initiative around accessing traditional native foods at American Indian Health & Family Services in Detroit. In part, this entails teaching cooking community classes using traditional foods, delivering nutrition lessons, facilitating a community coalition, leading Slow Food community garden activities, and establishing a community kitchen. She is also doing some local presentations on the impact of Federal-Indian policy on indigenous food sovereignty and community health in Indian Country.
Hear the Voices of the USA
Conferences – Carignano Theater
The program of Conferences expands on the central theme of Loving the Earth from multiple points of view. Speakers of international fame will confront the global economy, human and animal welfare, happiness, the environment, the kitchen, food in the arts, and more. Among the leading intellectuals and artists from the USA who have confirmed their presence so far:
- Alice Waters, chef, entrepreneur and activist, vice-president of Slow Food and pioneer of the organic food movement in the United States. In 1996 she launched the Edible Schoolyard Project, a school garden initiative that today involves over 4,000 schools.
- Eric Holt-Giménez, economist, agroecologist, professor, author of several books and since 2006 the Executive Director of Food First, an organization focused on themes such as hunger, poverty and social justice.
- Marion Nestle, leading expert in nutrition and food politics and author of best selling books, such as “Food Politics” (2002) and “Soda Politics” (2015).
- Miguel Altieri, Professor of Agroecology at the University of Berkeley in California and author of more than 200 publications, including “Agroecology: The Science of Sustainable Agriculture” (2013).
- Ron Finley, an artist, designer and guerilla gardener. Today he is committed to educating communities on nutrition through urban gardens. His project has been turned into a documentary film by executive producer John Legend, “Can you dig this?” (2015).
Terra Madre Forums – Valentino Castle and Torino Esposizioni
The event program includes 39 Terra Madre Forums ranging from a wide range of topics relating to the world of food: agriculture, soil, legality, the raising of livestock and animal wellbeing, agro-biodiversity, meat consumption, and the role of women in food production.
Some Terra Madre Forums will be dedicated to Slow Food USA’s central campaigns, such as Slow Meat, which encourages consumers to eat less meat, and of better quality. Participants in the forum, including farmers, butchers and chefs will discuss solutions to change the unsustainable model of industrial animal agriculture that currently floods the market with cheap meat while exploiting producers, animals and the environment.
Taste the Flavors of the USA
Taste Workshops
These ticketed events are an opportunity to try unique food and drink from around the world while learning straight from producers and chefs how these flavors came to be. Among the workshops which will explore the flavors from the USA:
Born in the USA: the true history of craft beer in America
In Old California: Beyond Cabernet and Chardonnay
Dogfish Head and Ballast Point: Coast to Coast
Gin Time – A voyage to explore the versatility of gin in drinks, from Scotland to Italy, Sri Lanka, Australia, and the Washington state coast in the USA with Dry Fly, a new gin distilled from local grain.
Shrubs, Vinegars and More – A mixology workshop to discover artisanal products of young American companies such as Shrub & Co., Pickett’s, Morris Kitchen, Wilks & Wilson and Pok Pok Som.
Master of Food – Beer? Yes, We CAN! – Thanks to craft breweries, especially in the UK and the USA, tin cans are enjoying a renaissance. The workshop will feature a tasting of a selection of canned craft beers.
Vermouth Renaissance – From the United States, participants will taste Ransom vermouth, mixed by some of the world’s most famous bartenders.
All the latest news about Terra Madre Salone del Gusto 2016 are online at: http://www.salonedelgusto.com, and it is possible to request the press accreditation here (http://www.salonedelgusto.com/en/info-accreditation/).
For more information please contact:
Slow Food, +39 329 83 212 85 [email protected] – Twitter: @SlowFoodPress
Region of Piedmont, +39 011 432 2549, [email protected]
City of Turin, +39 011 442 3606, [email protected]
Terra Madre Salone del Gusto is made possible with the help of several bodies, among which are the Official Partner: Lurisia, Pastificio Martino, Radeberger Gruppe Italy, Lavazza, Sapori, Iren, Intesa San Paolo; the supporters of the Terra Madre Foundation and Slow Food: Compagnia di San Paolo, Fondazione CRT and the Association of Banking Foundations of Piedmont, Coldiretti. With the support of IFAD, the European Union and CIA.
Slow Food is a global grassroots organization that envisions a world in which all people can access and enjoy food that is good for them, good for those who grow it and good for the planet. Slow Food involves over a million activists, chefs, experts, youth, farmers, fishers and academics in over 160 countries. Among them, a network of around 100,000 Slow Food members are linked to 1,500 local chapters worldwide, contributing through their membership fee, as well as the events and campaigns they organize. As part of the network, more than 2,400 Terra Madre food communities practice small-scale and sustainable production of quality food around the world.