Terra Madre: Market of Plenty
Wandering Austria this fall, Road Trips Foodies? Consider a stop in Vienna, Austria, between October 13 and 15, 2011.
That’s when Slow Food Vienna invades the City Hall downtown with Terra Madre. It is all about sampling the produce, taking things at your own pace and experiencing food with all five senses.
During “Terra Madre – Markt der Vielfalt”, farmers, cheesemakers and bakers will be offering their wares at the Arcaded Courtyard inside City Hall. The broad selection of regional delicacies includes Bergkäse cheese from Vorarlberg, rare varieties of vegetables, and specialty products such as checker berry chocolates and the Gemischter Satz, a Viennese blended wine.
For the first time this year, producers from the neighboring Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Slovakia and Switzerland will offer their wares. All of the produce on sale adheres to strict quality criteria and has been certified by the Slow Food movement.
A School of Taste in the staterooms of City Hall gives visitors the chance to sample various products, including saffron from the Wachau valley and unusual varieties of bread (a nominal charge applies). The producers themselves are at hand to give an insight into their growing methods and production techniques.
Slow Food is all about regional specialties, a back-to-basics approach to produce and, above all, superior quality food that simply tastes better. The Slow Food movement was founded by Carlo Petrini in Italy in 1989, and since then it has blossomed into an international eco-gastronomic non-profit organization. Its growing number of members are dedicated to rescuing local culinary traditions from falling into obscurity, raising awareness of where our food comes from, and drawing attention to the importance of flavor and taste. Terra Madre Austria is part of the global Slow Food network.
(Photo © Slow Food Wien / Rudi Pilz)
