Terra Madre

I was privileged to be part of the delegation from India at Terra Madre, the biannual Slow Food convivium. I was invited by Navdanya representatives of Slow Food in India and an Indian non-governmental organization (NGO) that promotes biodiversity conservation, organic farming, farmers’ rights and seed saving, among many other activities.

More than 5,000 representatives from the worldwide Terra Madre network came together under one roof, in Turin, Italy, between October 21 and 25. Terra Madre is both a worldwide network and a biannual conference and runs in parallel with Salone del Gusto, the international Slow Food fair. The Terra Madre conference consists of food communities, or networks, populated by food producers, chefs, food artisans localized small-scale, sustainable farmers and other people who share similar interests. And Salone del Gusto is a showcase of products produced the “slow” way from all over the world.

Safeguarding food biodiversity for the future is one of the fundamental principles of the Slow Food association, and the entire Terra Madre network is engaged in defending local food. Terra Madre 2010 focused on cultural and linguistic diversities: in recognition of the need to defend ethnic minorities and indigenous languages and in appreciation of the value of oral traditions and memory. In keeping with this, representatives of indigenous communities from the five continents addressed the audience in their native languages at the opening ceremony after a stirring flag march. The ceremony ended with Slow Food founder and figurehead Carlo Petrini urging us to live the next three days as intensely as we could, officially declaring the conference open and the crowd roaring in appreciation. And that’s exactly what we did! We would leave our host families early each morning and return late every night, exhausted but charged with ideas and inspiration. 

On the first day of the Terra Madre conference, we entered the Oval Lingotto. Representatives from the Earth Markets, as well as the Slow Food Presidia, were gathered there. One room was dedicated to presenting the network’s projects to safeguard biodiversity and promote food and taste education, and in the Slow Food projects room, delegates were given the opportunity to learn about current activities in over 150 countries around the world and exchange information on the initiatives they were involved in at home. And in the Oval Lingotto, interactive educational activities on biodiversity were open to all Terra Madre visitors offering a better understanding of terms such as “native varieties and breeds” and “traditional techniques” through pictures, games, quizzes and tastings.

The first thing I happened to walk over to was a section on plant varieties. On one side, there was a display of the five varieties of apples most commonly available on supermarket shelves around the world. On the other side, there were 100 apples of different shapes and colours, some of which are close to extinction. The message in the display was a representation of the different cultures and flavours and how this irreplaceable genetic heritage is the result of the slow adaptation of varieties to specific places.

I then came to an open-air bazaar sort of space that had spontaneously sprung up within moments of the conference opening. This market is not officially sanctioned by the Terra Madre conference organizers, but the tradition is broadly accepted, even quietly encouraged. Scattered over quickly assembled surfaces such as overturned boxes, colourful carpets and even hurriedly spread bed sheets were all sorts of things for sale from all over the world: hand-dyed scarves, dried hibiscus flower, whole lemon-grass plants, exotic unknown spices and ingredients, jewellery...just about anything was available! And as I stood there looking at the display, I had an epiphany!

Never before had I been under the same roof with thousands of people, each of a different skin colour, costume, religion, culture and with different beliefs and even varied cuisines. And yet, we all came from the same TERRA MADRE, or Mother Earth! Just like those 100 diverse apples – which had evolved to suit the conditions they had to grow in – we had all evolved to suit the conditions in which we had to exist! It was both humbling and exciting.

Over the days of the conference, I met with people from around the world, listened to their stories and discussed issues of common concern: traditional farming methods, farmers markets, genetically modified organisms (GMOs), sustainability in restaurants and the importance of cooks and chefs bringing sustainability from the farm to the table. We listened to speeches – translated in real time – from prominent people in the sustainable-food movement. And between the various seminars and the hard-core Italian food extravaganza that was Salone del Gusto (where I spent many delicious hours sampling meats, cheeses, preserves, chocolates, pasta, fish and discovering flavours of the five continents!), we congregated in coffee lines, at water stalls, over lunches and in buses home, to talk more, trade information, connect and co-operate.

Salone del Gusto is absolutely breathtaking for any food lover! There, food communities, cooks, academics, youth and musicians from all over the world united with a common desire to promote sustainable local food production in harmony with the environment while respecting knowledge handed down over the generations. This year, every possible aspect of Italian cuisine was represented in two sprawling pavilions, while foods from the rest of the world were available for exploration in a third pavilion. Salone del Gusto also showcased Presidia, Slow Food’s most important project to support small-scale producers. And scattered throughout the three pavilions were over 200 stands displaying cheeses, cured meats, breads, sweets, vegetables, fruit, grains and honeys that Slow Food is working to keep alive by protecting the traditional knowledge of their production and sustainability. From the Alps to the Andes, from the Sahara Desert to the Tibetan highlands, the Presidia brings producers together and gives them the support they need to promote their products and access new markets.

Terra Madre was an event out of my dreams. Until I landed there, I had no idea what to expect. But over the next few days, goose-bump-inducing moments dramatically changed my perspective on many things. At the risk of sounding idealistic, Terra Madre brought home to me just how global an issue local food is and how, by enriching our food producers, we enrich our area and ourselves toward a better future for our children.