Today is Terra Madre Day
At least 222 events involving 34,106 people will be taking place today, Terra Madre Day, a world-wide event coordinated by Slow Food International.
Some examples of events happening today:
They’re celebrating crab in Healdsburg, California; tasting local foods in Lexington, Kentucky, and enjoying a Terra Madre Dinner in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
All over the world, traditional food products are disappearing, along with the knowledge, techniques, cultures and landscapes related to their production. This is where Slow Food’s Ark of Taste comes in – a project to catalogue and protect these foods.
Slow Food, based near Turin, Italy, 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. A non-profit member-supported association, Slow Food was founded in 1989 to counter the rise of fast food and fast life, the disappearance of local food traditions and to encourage people to be aware about the food they eat, where it comes from, how it tastes and how our food choices affect the rest of the world.
The Terra Madre network of food communities was launched by Slow Food in 2004 to give a voice and visibility to the small-scale farmers, breeders, fishers and food artisans around the world whose approach to food production protects the environment and communities. The network brings them together with academics, cooks, consumers and youth groups so that they can join forces and work to improve the food system. The Terra Madre network extends across 150 countries, gathering people, associations and NGOs that, with different areas of activity, work on local projects to change the food system from the grassroots level.
