The Nordic Countries are Coming to Italy for Terra Madre Salone del Gusto

05 Sep 2018 | English

A delegation of about 90 people is set to take part in the most important international event dedicated to food culture.

Organized by Slow Food in collaboration with the Region of Piedmont and the City of Turin, the 12th edition of Terra Madre Salone del Gusto will be held in Turin, Italy, from September 20 to 24, 2018. Over 5,000 delegates from 140 countries, over 800 exhibitors, 300 Slow Food Presidia, and 500 Terra Madre food communities will gather in Turin.

The delegates from Denmark, the Faroe Islands, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and the Åland Islands represent a widespread group of countries that nevertheless share many of the same challenges (e.g. heavy standardization in the food chain), but also culinary innovation and indigenous knowledge. With plenty of geographic barriers to overcome, international encounters such as the 7th Slow Food International Congress in Chengdu, China, help inspire a spirit of collaboration that, this year, resulted in the Terra Madre Nordic 2018 event in Copenhagen. At the event, delegates from the Nordic countries developed the Slow Food Nordic Manifesto. About Terra Madre Salone del Gusto, Katrine Klinken, coordinator and International Councillor for the Nordic region, says, “I am extremely proud to be part of the international network that is Slow Food, and to represent a delegation that will take part in Terra Madre Salone del Gusto 2018. Food for change is the theme of this 12th edition and I am sure that, through exchange and dialogue with people who differ in culture, language, and customs, every one of us will return home richer and with new enthusiasm for pursuing our activities and striving for a better future for our planet.”

The International Market, located in the Lingotto Fiere and Oval, will display and sell products from Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. From Denmark comes the award-winning chocolate producer Mikkel Friis-Holm. Norway will present four of their Slow Food Presidia: Jan Naerø represents the last company in Norway that still uses artisan salting and smoking techniques to make Cured and Smoked Sunnmøre Herring; the Villsau Sheep Breeders’ Association will present the Norwegian Villsau (wild sheep), one of the oldest sheep breeds in northern Europe; small-scale dairy cooperative Undredal Stølsysteri makes Artisanal Sognefjord Geitost; and Pultost Innlandet SA, a collaboration of cheesemakers, produces Hedmark and Oppland Counties Pultost, a sour, rennet-free cheese made exclusively with milk from the producers’ own farms. From Sweden, Europe’s last remaining Indigenous people, the Sámi, will exhibit two reindeer meat Presidia, Suovas and Gurpi.

An area of the International Market will be dedicated to the Terra Madre Kitchens, where chefs from four continents will prepare authentic dishes using products from their home countries. From the Nordic Countries:

  • Finnish-Philippine chef Menchel Pullinen will fuse her heritages and serve Finnish rye bread and Philippine-style ceviche.
  • From the bay of Kuannit in southern Greenland, Mikael Møller brings cod, paarnat berries, and local herbs to the table.
  • From Iceland, members of the Icelandic Chefs’ Alliance will cook together: Come and meet Gísli Matthías Auðunsson and Moran Euan.
  • Norway’s Niel-Henning Nesje and Bjarte Finne will reveal the culinary potential of one of Scandinavia’s oldest sheep breeds, the Villsau.

This year, the beating heart of Terra Madre Salone del Gusto will be the #foodforchange thematic areas: Slow Food has identified five major themes (Slow MeatSlow FishSeedsFood and Health, and Bees and Insects). Here is the list of events and areas in which the Nordic Countries’ delegation will be involved:

Slow Meat

Johan Widing, an organic farmer from Sweden with extraordinary species diversity including the Swedish Linderöd Pig, will take part in the Terra Madre Forum Quality Farming – Pigs (September 22 at 4:00 p.m. – Torino Lingotto Fiere), where he will discuss animal welfare. As the provider of eggs for Noma Restaurant in Copenhagen, Johan will also speak in the Terra Madre Forum Eggs: Which to Choose and Why (September 24 at 11:00 a.m.Torino Lingotto Fiere).

Slow Fish

As part of the Icelandic Chefs’ Alliance and owner of the family restaurant Slippurinn in the Icelandic archipelago, Gísli Matthías Auðunsson will host the Taste Workshop A taste of Iceland: Artisan Fishing and Gastronomic Culture (September 21 at 4:00 p.m. – Torino Lingotto Fiere).

Smørrebrød: This classic Danish dish made with a slice of buttered dark rye bread has an endless range of toppings. Together with Katrine Klinken, International Councillor for the Nordic Countries, the public will be able to taste some of them at the Taste Workshop Denmark: Smørrebrød Passion! (September 20 at 4:00 – Torino Lingotto Fiere).

From the Danish fishing community and Slow Food Presidium in Thorupstrand, Hardy Jensen and Mathilde Höjrup Autzen will present an interesting management model that has successfully attracted young people to their sustainable, small-scale fishing industry in Northern Jutland.

Finland’s Heikki & Kaisu Nikula, as members of SnowChange Cooperative, a network of local and indigenous cultures around the world and a major force in international climate and indigenous policy and research, will take part in the Terra Madre Forum Climate Change: Indigenous People in Danger (September 20 at 4:00 p.m. – Torino Lingotto Fiere).

Aud Slettehaug will participate in the debate about one of Norway’s most harmful food products, farmed salmon, in the Terra Madre Forum Salmon Treated Like Chicken (September 20 at 2:00 p.m. – Torino Lingotto Fiere).

Food and Health

The Finnish delegation includes Eija Tarkiainen and Anne Murto, who will provide inside knowledge about the spiritual and medicinal properties of wild herbs and mushrooms. Eija will speak at the Terra Madre Forum Food, Health and Spirituality (September 21 at 2 p.m. – Torino Lingotto Fiere) and Anne will take take part in the Terra Madre Forum Medicinal Leaves, Herbs, Algea, and Mushrooms (September 24 at 2:00 p.m. – Torino Lingotto Fiere).

Beyond the thematic areas, Sweden’s Anders Westberg, food entrepreneur, farmer, and permaculture advocate, will participate in the Terra Madre Forum Shortening the Supply Chain (September 21 at 10:30 a.m. – Torino Lingotto Fiere), during which the public will hear about his experiences in community-driven agricultural systems, particularly the Finland-born REKO system.

Denmark’s Tina Unger, an agronomist working with cereal and beer production at Herslev Bryghus, will discuss injustices in the food chain at the Terra Madre Forum From Field to Restaurant, Power to The Women! (September 20 at 4:00 – Torino Lingotto Fiere).

Norway’s Aud Slettehaug will cover a sometimes-forgotten but highly interesting part of Norwegian gastronomy and food culture in the Taste Workshop Raw-milk Norwegian Cheeses, Cider and Kveik Beer (September 23 at 3:00 p.m. – Torino Eataly).

During the Dinner Date Sorrel, Lovage, Seaweed and Salt Cod: Iceland’s Nouvelle Vague (September 23 at 8:30 – Torino Eataly), participants can experience a full Icelandic meal prepared by Gísli Matthías Auðunsson.

During this 12th edition of Terra Madre Salone del Gusto, a synergy between the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo and the Terra Madre Network will form under the name “Diffused University”, in order to increase the meeting points between academic and traditional knowledge and to make the world’s universities more inclusive. Torino Lingotto will be crowded with academics from all over the world, and one of them is the Norwegian scholar and Slow Food member Pål Drønen. With support from the Hordaland county administration, he has created Norway’s first university program dedicated to gastronomy and food culture. This September, 15 students at Hjeltnes Horticultural College will be the first to embark on this 120-credit university course, permeated by, and based on, Slow Food’s ideals.

Taste Workshops and Cooking Schools are paid events and can be purchased online; the Terra Madre thematic Forums are presented by delegates of the network and are open to the public as long as seats are available. Click here for the list of available events, which is constantly updated.

Katrine Klinken – International Councillor for the Nordic Countries

[email protected]

Terra Madre Salone del Gusto 2018 Press Office

Slow Food, +39 329 83 212 85 [email protected] – Twitter: @SlowFoodPress

Region of Piedmont, +39 011 432 2549 – [email protected]

City of Turin, +39 011 011 21976 – +39 342 1100131 – [email protected]

To request press accreditation, please click here.

Terra Madre Salone del Gusto is an event organized by the City of Turin, Slow Food, and the Region of Piedmont in collaboration with MIPAAF (Italy’s Ministry for Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies). It has been made possible thanks to its many sponsors, including the Official Partners, GLEvents-Lingotto Fiere, IREN, Lavazza, Lurisia, Parmigiano Reggiano, Pastificio Di Martino and Quality Beer Academy; with the support of Compagnia di San Paolo, Fondazione CRT-Cassa di Risparmio di Torino, Associazione delle Fondazioni di Origine Bancaria del Piemonte, and Coldiretti; and with the contribution of IFAD, the European Union, and CIA (Confederazione Italiana Agricoltori).

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.

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