Food Education is Key to Slow Food’s Future

Five days of awareness-building activities at Terra Madre, the first step in mobilizing change

Food education, one of the three fundamental pillars of Slow Food’s mission, together with the defense of biological, and cultural diversity and advocacy, permeated the multitude of events (over a thousand) taking place during these five days at Terra Madre, the largest international event on food and food policies that is being held in Turin, (Italy). 

Slow Food believes that by helping children and adults understand where our food comes from, how it was produced, and by whom, they can learn to combine pleasure and responsibility in their daily choices and appreciate the cultural and social importance of food. The idea that it is synonymous with pleasure, culture, and conviviality makes this approach to food education unique. Slow Food’s international educational network is increasingly active, and connections have been strengthened during Terra Madre.

School gardens are an excellent learning tool. They engage students by providing experiential learning and allow them to address food and environmental education, biodiversity loss, and the climate crisis, in addition to most curriculum topics. They allow students to connect with nature, raise awareness of food production systems, and discover local food products and culinary traditions. 

Kim Aman, Terra Madre delegate, member of the education core group, and active teacher of the US Gardens Network, states: 

“We work with 7,000 kids per month in different school districts. In addition, we teach teachers how to grow school gardens as we are not sustainable alone. There is power in the people and school gardens are a great tool to teach kids about the environment, the food they eat, and the community; We give them something they can be proud of. I encourage everyone to grow a school garden in their neighborhood.”

Food education is practiced not only in traditional learning places such as classrooms. Also, farmers’ markets, and in particular Slow Food Earth Markets are an example of consumers’ awareness raising what distinguishes them from traditional commercial activities is their relationship-building and educational value. 

Richard Mc Carthy, Slow Food Board member, said: 

“Farmers markets bring farmers in direct contact with consumers in a public setting which is a platform for learning and sharing.  The intentionality of Slow Food Farmers Market is that we as consumers learn about traditional and innovative practices by farmers led by a set of values that protect biodiversity, land, and families who farm as well as the innovation of connecting to consumers to rebuild that trust that is important and timeless”.

Kate Smith, consultant on the circular economy and food education in cities such as Sydney, Hong Kong, and London, brought to Terra Madre her experience: 

“Why did we assign our councils the responsibility of dealing with our kitchen waste instead of recognizing their fantastic role in the growing cycle? It is not enough to give people the equipment to compost. We brought together a social infrastructure: we created Compost Clubs to share information and introduced neighbors to neighbors to help them interact to reuse kitchen waste and transform it into compost”.

The catering industry, whether it is a restaurant or public or corporate canteens, has demonstrated that the quality of food is inextricably linked to the story and knowledge about its provenance and production. The Slow Food’s Cooks’ Alliance is creating, through a participatory process, formats for cooks aimed at making them educators to different target groups. Educators, cooks, and Slow Food network activists participated in Terra Madre, strengthening this process.