Slow Food Terres Lleida is hosting the inaugural I Fira D’Alimentació I Salut (Fair of Food and Health) this weekend in the region of Catalonia, celebrating local food production and highlighting the links between quality food, clean production and human health in a rich program of activities, workshops and conferences.
In the Earth Market numerous producers and artisans present their traditions from the region and a ‘Plants that Cure’ section is dedicated to growers of species with healing properties. A sensorial zone will offer guided analysis of products based on blind tastings and smell tests and the exhibition will also feature an Artists Corner, interactive workshops for children, a GMO comment wall and a display that follows the history of food from the first nomads until today.
The program of conferences and taste workshops begins on Saturday morning with a series of lecturers from dieticians, writers, researchers and Slow Food representatives on topics ranging from Bach flowers to the perils of industrial food, from food allergies to recovering species biodiversity.
Sunday starts with two conferences focusing on the natural no-calorie sweetener Stevia, which is banned across Europe. Josep Pàmie, a farmer committed to protecting food heritage and leader of the anti GMO movement in Spain, will speak on Stevia while Juan Felipe Carrasco, coordinator of the Greenpeace GMO campaign in Spain, will discuss European politics around this issue.
The ‘Slow Action’ project – a program in cooperation with communities in the city of Kokofata, Mail – will also be presented on Sunday, explaining the work underway to create an agricultural training center, a primary school and a community plot to help ensure water, food and land is available to the community.
Slow Food Terres Llieda is particularly concerned with local biodiversity protection, and has a strong group of around 80 members. For more information on Slow Food in Spain and the activities of the other 25 convivia across the country, please visit www.slowfood.es.
Bess Mucke
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