CARLO Petrini, Slow Food founder and international president, will deliver a free public lecture at the University of Western Australia on Wed 14 Oct 2009 as a highlight of his first visit to Perth. It will be hosted by UWA Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences professor Willy Erskine.
Petrini, who in 1986 launched the protest movement that became Slow Food in 1989, was named last year by British newspaper The Guardian as one of ‘The 50 people who could save the planet’ and ‘European hero’ by Time magazine in 2004. The organisation he leads today has more than 100,000 members in 150 countries, including six branches in Western Australia. It works to counteract the disappearance of local food traditions, people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from, how it tastes and how individual food choices affect the rest of the world.
Petrini’s theoretical approach to agriculture, food production and gastronomy is based on three principles –‘good, clean and fair’ – that Slow Food has turned to reality through more than 300 small-scale projects across the world that protect traditional food production methods by supporting producers in their communities and helping them to build markets for their products.
This work extends from farmers and fishermen to cooks, chefs, academics, young people and consumers. It led Slow Food to establish in 2004 a biennial event called Terra Madre that has evolved into a network of more than 2000 food communities throughout the world working to maintain truly local food systems and traditions.
Petrini, a charismatic Italian and former radio journalist, champions the Slow Food tenet that food should taste good and be nutritious, produced in ways that respect the environment, animals, and people’s health, and yield fair rewards for producers.
Using this theme, his University of Western Australia lecture will discuss ‘Good, clean and fair: small, slow food in a big food nation’.
He will also launch in Perth a collaborative project between Slow Food Perth and the children’s environment awareness organisation, Millennium Kids, that aims to encourage children to learn about food production and food security and experience and appreciate indigenous food cultures.
After his Perth visit, Petrini will travel to Sydney where he will speak at the Sydney Opera House in one of the key events of the 2009 Sydney International Food Festival.
Free public lecture
Time: 5:00pm for 5:15pm
University of Western Australia
MCS Lecture Theatre [nearest carpark No. 14, off Fairway or Myers Street]
Molecular & Chemical Sciences Building
Crawley WA 6009
Please RSVP your attendance by email or T 08 6488 1141.
The lecture will conclude at 6:15pm.
