Australian and Pacific Delegations Participating in Slow Food Nations!

Slow Food Nations is an international event organized by Slow Food USA with the support of Slow Food International that will take place in Denver, Colorado (USA) from July 14 to 16, 2017, and will host delegations from all over the world: Australia, Canada, the Caiman Islands, Colombia, Cuba, Fiji, Germany, Kenya, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Switzerland and Vanuatu.

Coming from Australia is Tammi Jonas, the president of AFSA (Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance) and a member of the Large Black Pig and Cattle Breeders and Meatsmith of Daylesford (Victoria) food community. The community raises free-range rare-breed Large Black pigs and a small herd of cattle on volcanic soil paddocks covered in lush pasture. The farm hosts monthly workshops to share the skills of ethical animal husbandry, traditional butchery and meat preserving, among other themes.

Leo Nainoka, a member of the Indigenous Terra Madre network and the Social Empowerment and Education (SEEP) community, will come from Fiji. SEEP is currently working with communities in rural areas with between 50 to 200 people. These communities are either very marginalized or have been affected by unsustainable development projects. SEEP’s core work is to let these communities discuss the effects of globalization and together try to seek possible solutions to problems like the high rate of non-communicable diseases and extreme obesity in young children, which can be linked to unhealthy behaviors and practices.

Representing Vanuatu will be David Amynio Seresere and Paula Aruhuri, both members of the Indigenous Terra Madre network. David is also part of the Vanuatu Indigenous Land Defence Desk, an organization that promotes awareness of indigenous customs and land rights across Vanuatu and campaigns to stop land alienation from traditional owners.

This significant and important event will also see the participation of the president and founder of Slow Food, Carlo Petrini, and Slow Food vice-president Alice Waters, who also represents the United States within the organization. Special guests will include musician Jack Johnson, who lined up his 2017 summer tour to coincide with Slow Food Nations and has supported the attendance of delegates from Hawaii, and New York Times national food correspondent Kim Severson, who will act as host and Master of Ceremonies and will give the opening address.

“The people who will gather at Slow Food Nations will show us that an alternative and more sustainable food system is possible,” said Petrini. “We must stick together, forge alliances and work in partnership toward a common goal, pooling our efforts together. We have just one planet to live on and we all share a common destiny.”

Other delegates will include indigenous people from Africa and Oceania from the Indigenous Terra Madre network, including international Presidia producers.

Inspired by Slow Food International’s biennial Terra Madre gathering in Turin, Italy, Slow Food Nations will combine the energy of a street food festival, rigor of an academic conference, and inspiration of a cultural exchange.

For more details, please visit slowfoodnations.org. For press accreditation please visit: slowfoodnations.org/about/media/apply/.

For further information, please contact:

Slow Food International Press Office

[email protected] – Twitter: @SlowFoodPress

Slow Food Nations

Emily Smith, +1 3039034970, [email protected] 

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.