Terra Madre Celebrations

The delegates to Terra Madre 2010 have been confirmed. Congratulations to our local delegates:

Andrea Carlson, Bishops Restaurant
Mark Bomford, Director, Centre for Sustainable Food Systems at UBC Farm
Christopher Hergesheimer, Grain Chain Project, Flour Peddler, Urban Grain CSA Coordinator
Holger Schwichtenberg, Holberg Dairy Farm
Amy Suess, Skeeter Farm (CSA)
Heather Pritchard, Community Farm Director (FarmFolk/CityFolk) and Glorious Garnish Organics
Jordan Maynard, Southlands Farm, Vancouver (CSA)
Jeremy Pitchford, Glen Valley Organic Farm Co-operative
Dawn Morrison, B.C. Food Systems Network – Working Group on Indigenous Food Sovereignty
Fred Sampson, Chief/Chair of the Siska Traditions Society

More than 5,000 representatives from the worldwide Terra Madre network will meet in Turin, Italy for the fourth time this October 21 to 25. The five-day meeting will bring together food communities, cooks, academics, youth and musicians from all over the world, who are united in a desire to promote sustainable local food production in harmony with the environment while respecting knowledge handed down over the generations.

A new feature of Terra Madre 2010 will be a focus on cultural and linguistic diversities - in recognition of the need to defend minority ethnic groups and indigenous languages, and with an appreciation of the value of oral traditions and memory. At the opening ceremony, representatives of indigenous communities from all continents across the world will speak to the audience in their native languages.

An entire day will be dedicated to examining eight crucial issues for the future of agriculture and the planet (from biodiversity to renewable energies and education to traditional knowledge). Also, communities will meet in national and regional sessions.

In conjunction with Terra Madre, Turin will host the eight edition of the Salone del Gusto, whose central theme food and places. The event’s aim will be to provide visitors/consumers with the ability to understand the “other side” of the food world and to get to know the characteristics, stories and cultures of quality products. All the different areas in which Slow Food is active are covered by the overarching “food and places” theme, and will find their ideal forum at Salone del Gusto 2010: from our Presidia projects and the Earth Markets, to the fight against GMOs.
The Salone del Gusto thus becomes a place for debate and awareness-raising around all the most important issues related to food and gastronomy, without ever losing Slow Food’s distinctive approach, its focus on pleasure, which touches the most universal chords and restores identity and symbolic value to food.

We are raising funds to cover airfare for our youth farmers and delegates attending Terra Madre.

* Buy the book, Terra Madre, at Barbara-Jo’s Books to Cooks. Visit the store or order online.  Click here to learn more about the book.

* DONATE to the Terra Madre fund financially or with Air Miles!  Visit our Terra Madre Fund page to support farming and your commitment to a local, sustainable food secure future.  Slow Food Vancouver in partnership with FarmFolk/CityFolk are raising funds to send local farmers, chefs and academics to Terra Madre 2010.  Contact .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)for more information.

Local delegates who attended Terra Madre 2008 include Debra Boyes of Farm House Natural Cheeses, chefs Jeff Van Geest and Robert Clark, Heather Pritchard representing community farms, Kim Sutherland representing Fraser Valley farmers,  and students Karen Rideout and Bryanna Thiel. Those who attend are expected to bring back lessons learned to share with both their immediate food community and the broader public including the media. Sharing of this information will take place at various Slow Food functions.

What is Terra Madre?
Terra Madre was born in 2004 as a meeting of sustainable food producers, and now brings together over 7,000 people from 160 countries. In 2006, 5000 farmers, fishermen and livestock breeders attended the conference, with the addition of 1000 cooks and 500 universities. Terra Madre 2008 invited folk musicians, without whom is impossible to imagine our culture, and young farmers and cooks, in whose hands is the future of traditional agriculture.  In 2010 Terra Madre will focus on the indigenous peoples, their languages, food and culture.  To learn more about Terra Madre, visit http://www.terramadre.org.

Questions?
Please contact Joanne MacKinnon at 778.998.3471 or Heather Pritchard at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address); Monday & Tuesday phone the city office: 604.730.0450 or Wednesday through Sunday phone the farm office: 604.857.9057. 

Slow Food Vancouver is organizing a year of events with Farm Folk/City Folk.

Thank you to DOXA Documentary Film Festival, Schokolade Cafe and Barbara-Jo’s Books to Cooks for their contribution to our fund.

Terra Madre Day 2009 Thank You
On behalf of Slow Food Vancouver, a big thank you to the producers, chefs, cooks and bakers who volunteered their time, resources and expertise to made the local celebration of the international Terra Madre Day on December 10, 2009, a success. We encourage you to support these producers as it is our responsibility to make farming viable!  The December 10th event had over 200 participants and raised $1,000 to the Terra Madre Fund. 

Our thanks to:
• A Bread Affair • Anita’s Organic Grain and Flour Mill • European Bakery • Grain Chain Project
- FFCF • Heritage Grains Foundation • Heritage Organic Farms • Terra Breads • The Flour Peddler
• Urban Grains CSA • Vancouver Community College • Seed Security Project - FFCF • Farm House
Natural Cheeses • Holberg Dairy Farm • Kootenay Alpine Cheese Co. • Paula Cranmer-Underhill
• Wild BC Salmon (CSF) • Wild Salmon Circle • Queen Charlotte Fishing Co.’s Jon Hunter
• Dr. John Volpe, UVic (drafted the Manifesto on Wild Salmon)
• All Seasons Mushrooms • biovia Organic Link • Bishop’s Restaurant • Canadian Hazelnut
• Cook the Hood • Dr. Art Bomke, UBC • Ethical Bean Coffee • Gelderman Farms
• Glen Valley Organic Farm • GWFC • Helmer’s Farm • Hills Food • Honeyview Farm • NowBC
• Ladybug Manor • Mosaic @ Hyatt Regency • Misty Mountain Specialties • Dr. Andrew Rushmore • Savoury City Catering
• The Preserved Seed • The Spelt Bakery • UBC Farm• Vancouver Farmers Markets
• Western Canada Wilderness Committee • Yona Sipos, PhD Candidate
• Artisan Sake Maker • Kermode Wild Berry Wine • The Fort Wine Co.

A special thank you to our December 10th event sponsors:  The Italian Cultural Centre and Vancouver Community College

The ARK: Slow Food makes its support of biodiversity real by promoting artisanal producers of quality products. The Ark of Taste is a catalogue of foods that have been forgotten or marginalized and are at risk of disappearing completely.  The Presidia helps artisan food producers directly. These small-scale projects protect traditional production methods by supporting producers in situ and helping them find markets for traditional foods.

To volunteer email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
To join Slow Food visit:  slowfood.com