Food movement leaders meet in Taranto (Italy)

Representatives from 27 countries will discuss further steps in the evolution of the Slow Food movement

From October 6 to 8, 2023, the town of Taranto in Southern Italy hosts the Slow Food International Council, the organization’s strategic guiding body. The assembly represents the main forum for dialogue between Slow Food representatives from across the globe and will outline the global key strategies for Slow Food for the next year. Together with the Slow Food Board of Directors, which is the highest institutional governing body, the Council reflects the highly international nature of the organization, with 47 Slow Food leaders coming from 27 countries, representing all five continents.

Since its founding in 1989, Slow Food has grown into a global movement in 160 countries acting together to ensure good, clean and fair food for all. After the 8th Slow Food International Congress on July 2022, Slow Food marked a new phase of regeneration, and elected a new global leadership to take Slow Food into the future.

Edward Mukiibi, Slow Food President: “The role of industrial food as the main culprit in environmental disaster is emerging ever more loudly and clearly. Our movement, which has been working for 30 years to ensure good, clean and fair food, continues taking a leading political role in curbing this trend, which has catastrophic implications. The path taken so far has allowed us to achieve goals that once seemed unattainable. It is ever more important to step out of our social and geographical bubbles and create links with others who share the same vision of a good, clean and fair food system and those who are working to regenerate the planet”.

The meeting takes place in Taranto, a city that has become a symbol of environmental and cultural regeneration, starting with crafts and products linked to the land and sea. As the Council meeting takes place, so will the first edition of Mediterraneo Slow, an event celebrating the uniqueness of Mediterranean culture with a focus on food. Producers, chefs and farmers from the Apulian coast, as well as from the rest of Southern Italy, will gather there. This is an important appointment for Slow Food, which over the years has worked with its projects in countries along the northern and southern coasts of the Mediterranean-from Turkey to the Middle East to Morocco and Spain-to defend their agri-food biodiversity, material culture and traditional agricultural systems, and small-scale coastal fishing communities.

“Taranto recent story reminds us that environmental regeneration is possible and that food plays a key role in it, enhancing the role of our rich biodiversity and of the diversity of cultural heritage within our societies. Renewal can and must begin with food: by improving our agricultural practices, our systems of production and distribution, by ensuring policies that truly empower communities to develop local food systems and diversify diets. The Councillors who gather in Taranto are engaged in designing strategies and concrete actions for the coming year, with the aim of supporting the transition to sustainable food systems that is so crucial to the wellbeing of all and of the planet,”, says Marta Messa, Secretary General of Slow Food.

Slow Food Press Office

Paola Nano – [email protected] (+39) 329 8321285

Alessia Pautasso – [email protected] (+39) 342 8641029

Slow Food is a global network of local communities founded in 1989 to prevent the disappearance of local food cultures and traditions and counteract the rise of fast food culture. Since its founding, Slow Food has grown into a global movement involving millions of people in over 160 countries, working to ensure that everyone has access to good, clean and fair food. Slow Food is the umbrella organization responsible for guiding the entire movement.