Preserving memory

On January 10, 2012, in the nose, by pauline
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BARBARA Massaad founding member of Slow Food Beirut, author of several books has just produced her third book in her journey of preserving memory. “Mouneh” is the winner of the Gourmand Cookbook 2010. She is also an international delegate of the Terra Madre Community. In her words, ‘the very best memories connect us to time and place and are often stimulated by the tastes and smells of childhood, but the reality for many of us is that we no longer enjoy such a strong connection to our culinary roots’.
Read further.

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‘Spring banquet’ 20 Nov 2011

On November 5, 2011, in events & bookings, by jamie
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SLOW Food Perth will host its ‘spring banquet’ on Sunday 20 November at Lyn De Reggi’s and Peter Miles’ property in High Wycombe. This will be the second of our seasonal lunches where we highlight local food and the seasons, beautifully cooked by our Terra Madre delegate-chef Valerio Fantinelli.

We have asked contributing producers to join us, so there may be a tasting of some of their foods before we lunch in an alfresco area. We will let you know closer to the event as it is a busy time for farmers.

You will be welcomed with a glass of sparkling wine. For drinks with your lunch we suggest you bring a bottle of your favourite wine to share and some non-alcoholic drink in case the weather is warmer than usual.

Please download our booking form.

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Terra Madre Western Australia

On June 17, 2011, in the nose, by pauline
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THE outcome of the meeting in Perth by the CEO of Slow Food International Paolo di Croce was a vote in favour for holding a Terra Madre Western Australia. Terra Madre has been held in Italy every two years and was started to give a voice and visibility to the small scale farmers and food artisans from around the world whose approach to food production protects the environment.
The five convivia in Western Australia, Slow Food Perth, Slow Food Southern Forests, Slow Food Denmark, Slow Food Margaret River and the newly formed Slow Food Swan Valley & Eastern Regions will work together to provide a platform for producers to network with each other and the wider community through forums, workshops and tasting events. We also hope to bring to public attention the value and voices of small scale good, clean and fair farmers and food artisans that currently struggle within our ‘big agriculture’ systems.

We now wish to invite all Slow Food members and friends in Western Australia, including those who have already put their names down, to indicate by the 1st July 2011 your interest in being actively involved in organizing Terra Madre WA.

In addition if you know of anyone who has these or other skills that would be useful in our Terra Madre Western Australia project could you also put forward their names.

We are particularly looking for skills in the following areas:
Fundraising
Budgeting
Media / Marketing
Event logistics
Event programing
Communications
Indigenous Affairs
Producer Coordination
Catering Coordination

We hope this can be achieved in 2012 as it is The International Year of the Farmer and also the Australian Farmer of the year. Further information about timing and other details of this project will be made available as it comes to hand.

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Exchange ideas with Slow Food international executives

On April 25, 2011, in the nose, by jamie
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SLOW Food members will have the opportunity to exchange ideas about the future of the organisation with Slow Food international executive director Paolo Di Croce and Asia-Oceania programme director Elena Aniere when they visit Western Australia towards the end of May 2011.

All members are being given advance notice of a meeting with Paolo and Elena in Perth on Saturday 21 May. This will be followed by a meeting for southern region convivia members – from Denmark, Margaret River and Southern Forests – in Pemberton on Sunday 22 May.

Paolo (above), a graduate of the University of Turin, began working for Slow Food in 1998, co-ordinating its biodiversity defence programmes known as the Ark of Taste and Presidia. He has also led planning for Terra Madre, Slow Food’s biennial world meeting of food communities, which last was held in 2010.

The Perth meeting presents an important opportunity to discuss the major challenges confronting food. Elena Aniere says that the meeting will enable local members to learn more about Slow Food principles and projects. Paolo and Elena also want to hear about convivia activities and the ways in which communications and food networks might be developed.

A detailed programme will be released by 1 May. For more information please email Slow Food Perth.

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Esperance Festival of the Wind lunch

On March 10, 2011, in events & bookings, the nose, by jamie
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IN 2009 Slow Food Perth joined with the Esperance community and its biennial Festival of the Wind to host a long table lunch featuring local food and highlighting food sustainability. A joint long table lunch is again being held at this year’s festival on Saturday 19 March in Ralph Bower park in Esperance.

Valerio Fantinelli, a Terra Madre 2010 youth and chef delegate and Slow Food Perth committee member, has arranged the menu and is travelling to Esperance to cook for this lunch. Valerio will be supported by several Slow Food Perth committee members.

Just 10 tickets remain available andif any Slow Food Perth member is interested in attending you should contact Wendy Stewart by email.

The Festival of the Wind marks the role that Esperance has played in the establishment of wind power generation in Western Australia. It was the location of site of the first wind farm in the state. There are numerous activities during the festival weekend from 18 to 20 March. See the festival website for more information.

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New Internationalist lauds Slow Food politics

On February 8, 2011, in the nose, by pauline
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“STRANGE bedfellows these Slow Fooders” this odd combination of pleasure and politics has inspired the movement and still seems pretty durable says journalist Richard Swift in the latest “New Internationalist”. Swift also reports on the many aspects of Salone del Gusto and Terra Madre last year. Read the full article.

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Cyclone damages Spencers Brook Farm

On February 7, 2011, in the nose, by pauline
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WITH so much devastation from the floods and cyclones in the East, we have heard little of the serious damage to farms in the York, Northam, Toodyay and Spencers Brook area during the last weekend of January 2011. Annie and Neil Kavanagh, free range pork and beef producers of Spencers Brook Farm was one of the farms severely damaged. Annie and Neil are Slow Food members and Annie was a delegate to Terra Madre last year. A working bee of volunteers will be arranged in the near future.

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Unsung food producers

On January 15, 2011, in the nose, by pauline
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SHEILA Dillon, BBC World Service journalist investigates Slow Food’s International biennial meeting of Terra Madre. She talks to many of the small scale and skilled of the planet about their ways of life, their inherited knowledge of plants and animals and their agricultural methods. Scientist, agriculturist and nutritionist are now taking more interest in these traditional cultures seeing them as a valuable model of sustainable food production. This radio documentary was first heard on the 7th January this year. Read and hear more

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Ducks steal Terra Madre Day picnic

On December 11, 2010, in event archive, the nose, by jamie
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LAKE Jualbup teal ducks and black swans in Perth’s Shenton Park joined Slow Food Perth’s Terra Madre Day shared picnic on 11 December and stole not only the crowd’s attention but also some picnic food. It was the perfect metaphor for a celebration of local food and eating locally, and the birds enjoyed their fill.

A small band of 15 Slow Food Perth members and friends – including Terra Madre 2010 chef-delegate Valerio Fantinelli – enjoyed the picnic, which featured a wonderful pie made from Wayne and Margaret Brock’s biodynamic bacon and fresh, free-range eggs, freshly-squeezed, preservative-free orange and lemon juice from Rocco and Connie Zampogna’s Golden Grove orchard at lower Chittering, and picked-today apricots from Maxinne and Rod Sclanders’ Cosham estate in the Perth hills.

Slow Food Perth co-leaders Pauline Tresise and Jamie Kronborg said a celebration of eating locally, and enjoying that food together, was at the heart of Terra Madre Day.

‘Today we have been part of almost 1200 events being held throughout the world to foster local community awareness of local food,’ they said. ‘We encouraged our picnic participants to go to their local farmers’ market this morning and buy some delicious, local, fresh produce, meat or cheese, or to make a salad from their kitchen garden.’

Terra Madre day events were held on and either side of 10 December – Slow Food’s twenty-first anniversary – in every corner of the world, in 124 countries.

From Australia and New Zealand to the Americas and Europe, Slow Food members, producers, food communities, cooks, academics, young people and musicians united in a collective global celebration of local food that is good, clean and fair.

The goal of this year’s Terra Madre Day was to collect funds to finance the creation of one thousand vegetable gardens in Africa: in schools, in villages, on the outskirts of cities. The Terra Madre gardens will be run by the communities, planted with local varieties and cultivated using sustainable techniques. The idea is not new, but comes from many agricultural and educational projects already ongoing in Kenya, Uganda, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Morocco, Ethiopia, Senegal and Tanzania.

The Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity will manage the donations and coordinate activities in Africa.

> See Slow Food president Carlo Petrini’s message for Terra Madre Day

> To support 1000 Gardens in Africa, please email the project

> Find out more about Slow Food and Terra Madre

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Local food at the heart of Terra Madre Day

On December 10, 2010, in events & bookings, the nose, by jamie
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SLOW Food Perth’s Lake Jualbup shared picnic in Shenton Park tomorrow – 11 December 2010 – is one of 1119 Terra Madre Day events being held in every corner of the world, in 124 countries, as local celebrations of local food by Slow Food and its Terra Madre network.

From Australia and New Zealand to the Americas and Europe, Slow Food members, producers, food communities, cooks, academics, young people and musicians have united in a collective global celebration of local food that’s good, clean and fair. This year confirms the success of the first exciting edition in 2009, held on Slow Food’s twentieth birthday, when 1028 Terra Madre Day events were held in 118 countries.

The goal of this year’s Terra Madre Day is to collect funds to finance the creation of a thousand vegetable gardens in Africa: in schools, in villages, on the outskirts of cities. The Terra Madre gardens will be run by the communities, planted with local varieties and cultivated using sustainable techniques. The idea is not new, but comes from many agricultural and educational projects already ongoing in Kenya, Uganda, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Morocco, Ethiopia, Senegal and Tanzania.

The Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity will manage the donations and coordinate activities in Africa.

In New Zealand, the food community of Maori organic producers of Aotearoa will celebrate their gastronomic heritage by organising a week of meetings and debates to talk about Terra Madre and Slow Food, in collaboration with the Ngati Hine Health Trust. Today, in Kawakawa and Whangarei in the north of the North Island, two lunches will be held, called Ata Haere… Go Slowly, to promote a better way of living and eating. Participants will prepare their favorite dishes, using ingredients from local organic farmers, then share them with families, friends and the community. The group of Maori organic producers includes growers of peruperu (Maori potatoes), seven varieties of kumara (sweet potato), other edible roots and fruits like oranges, mandarins, kiwis and feijoas, as well as cattle farmers. Farming techniques are based on traditional Maori knowledge passed down from the tupuna (ancestors).

The Balkan countries will see the launch of a Manifesto on Food, Biodiversity and Rural Cultural Heritage, written by the Terra Madre Balkans’ network during its first regional meeting in July 2010. The manifesto draws the attention of civil society, institutions and the business world to the importance of protecting rural heritage. The document will be presented to leading authorities in every Balkan country.

In Bulgaria, the manifesto will be presented to journalists on December 11. On the same day, the first Christmas market organised by Slow Food Bulgaria will be held in the Sofia Museum of National History, with foods and other sustainable products. Students from the Georgi Benkovski School in Cherni Vit and the Petko Karavelov School in Sofia will perform a musical program dedicated to Terra Madre Day. They will also be preparing sweets and Christmas cards for visitors. The proceeds will be used for Slow Food’s next activities in the two schools.

The Sami community in the northern Arctic has been working with Slow Food since 2003, when the Reindeer Suovas presidium was established to protect traditionally dried and smoked reindeer fillet. The first inter-regional convivium, Slow Food Sápmi, was created out of this collaboration. It currently has around a hundred members in Sweden and Norway and in the future hopes to attract members in Finland and western Russia’s Kola Peninsula. In Jokkmokk (Sweden), Terra Madre Day will be celebrated with dinners based on Sami products, conferences and traditional Joik music.

To welcome the 1000 Gardens in Africa initiative, Slow Food Mukono in Uganda will organise an event called Living Locally, Eating Locally, an open day during which parents and elderly farmers will be invited to spend the morning helping children in the Buiga Sunrise Preschool garden, sharing their knowledge of traditional, local agricultural methods. This will be followed by a cooking workshop with traditional recipes, to remember forgotten typical foods. The workshop will be run by Terra Madre cooks from the Dembe Women’s Group.
The Slow Food Mukono Convivium launched a food education program in 2006 and now works with over 20 schools to improve young people’s attitudes to agriculture, developing innovative methods to maintain food sovereignty and above all focusing attention on the creation of school gardens where fruits and vegetables are grown using sustainable techniques.

In Costa Rica, over 50 people from Santa Barbara and surrounding villages will learn how to build a solar cooker, which uses the sun’s rays to cook food. The event is organised by women from the Sol de Vida association, a Terra Madre food community which promotes organic agriculture, local seed protection, traditional cultivation techniques and cooking with solar energy. The public will also take part in agroecology workshops and learn practical skills like how to make natural fertiliser. In keeping with the Terra Madre Day spirit, the event will conclude with a lunch cooked in the solar cooker. The Sol de Vida women will prepare soups, tortillas, cakes and sweets with ojoche nuts picked from forest trees, as well as other dishes based on corn, beans, manioc and turmeric. The cooking and the lunch will be accompanied by Afro-Central American music set to the beat of the marimba, a traditional musical instrument.

Every fall, members of the Bellingham community along the Washington State coast in the United States come together to share the season’s catch and preserve it for the following months. Given the importance of small-scale fishing here, for the second consecutive year Slow Food Fourth Corner is organising the event for Terra Madre Day, inviting many convivia from around the area. The whole weekend will be dedicated to the festive event, with everyone helping to cut, prepare and can the fish according to an old Breton recipe. The fish is albacore tuna, caught with a hook and line along the United States coast, certified by the Marine Stewardship Council and recommended by Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch.

> For Australian events and Terra Madre organisers’ contacts, visit the Terra Madre Day website

> See Slow Food president Carlo Petrini’s message for Terra Madre Day

> To support 1000 Gardens in Africa, please email the project

> Find out more about Slow Food and Terra Madre

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