Slow Food Lishe Convivium, based in the Arusha region, will present the Slow Food School Clubs on Saturday, February 13, 2016 at Faraja Vocational Training Center (Arusha, Tanzania). Ten schools are taking part in the event, together with local government leaders, representatives of Slow Food gardens in Tanzania and community members. The Italian Ambassador, Luigi Scotto, and Dr. Fabio Gigantino, Desk Officer of the Italian Development Cooperation Agency in Tanzania, will also be present. There will be a series of exhibitions and speeches in the morning, including the symbolic launch of the initiative with the planting of a Moringa tree. Participants will then prepare a community lunch, open to everyone.
Slow Food School Clubs are spontaneously formed groups of young students who gather together to run Slow Food demonstration gardens in their schools and, more importantly, to discuss and debate different topics concerning food and food production (such as sustainable agriculture, family farming, traditional food and biodiversity). The main objective of the School Clubs’ initiative is to increase students’ knowledge about where food comes from, growing and harvesting fresh produce in an environmentally friendly way, and how food, culture and community are all connected. To this end, Slow Food School Clubs organize activities like cooking classes and study trips to share their experiences with club members from other schools. They also try to support traditional local cuisine and promote the Slow Food philosophy through songs, drama and poems.
The role of young people is fundamental in the development of the Slow Food network in Africa, hence the creation of these clubs in school gardens. Edie Mukiibi, Vice President of Slow Food International and representative for Africa in the Slow Food Executive Committee, says: “Today’s youth are the world’s future leaders, farmers, consumers and entrepreneurs, and youth involvement in agriculture has been an increasing concern all over the world. We cannot discuss the future of agriculture and food security without involving young people.”
Slow Food has been active in Tanzania since 2004. Activities in the country are carried out by seven local groups in the following regions: Morogoro, Mara, Arusha, Dar es Salaam, Dodoma and Njombe. Tanzania has been involved in the 10,000 Gardens in Africa project since 2010, and by the end of 2015, 77 Slow Food gardens had been set up: 36 school gardens, 27 community gardens, eight family gardens and six demonstration gardens.
To find out more about the 10,000 Gardens in Africa project: http://www.fondazioneslowfood.com/en/what-we-do/10-000-gardens-in-africa/
For further information, please contact:
Slow Food International Press Office, Paola Nano, +39 329 8321285, [email protected]
Slow Food Lishe Convivium and Slow Food 10,000 gardens project, Helen Tibandebage Nguya, [email protected]
Slow Food involves over a million of people dedicated to and passionate about good, clean and fair food. This includes chefs, youth, activists, farmers, fishers, experts and academics in over 160 countries; a network of around 100,000 Slow Food members linked to 1,500 local chapters worldwide (known as convivia), contributing through their membership fee, as well as the events and campaigns they organize; and over 2,500 Terra Madre food communities who practice small-scale and sustainable production of quality food around the world.