Terra Madre 2006

[Devotay]

Chef,

I was pleased to see you at the Terra Madre World Gathering of Food Communities in Torino in 2004. Would you please discuss the importance of this event, what you got out of it, and what you expect from it in 2006?

It seems that this year, with the inclusion of an additional 1000 chefs from around the world, joining 5000 sustainable farmers and food artisans from around the world, Slow Food's Terra Madre initiative has a golden opportunity to affect real, positive change in the worldwide food system. What do you think?

[Rick Bayless]

Dear kfm,



Terra Madre in Torino in the fall of 2004 was a real highlight for me. To be together with 5000 folks from around the world, all involved in sustainable or traditional food production, was exhilarating. I stayed on a small farm outside Torino (it specialized in beautiful lettuces) along with several American producers of hard cider. Our Italian farmhouse "Mom" made a traditional homey dinner for us each night that always started with an antipasto of some kind (usually vegetables, though she loved working canned tuna and anchovies into them), then a pasta or risotto, and finally a meat or fish (usually a braise of some sort).



It took several hours to get everyone from their farm-stay lodgings into the Torino convention center everyday, so we didn't usually start the proceedings until about 10 o'clock. I have to say, though, that one of my favorite parts of the trip was our bus time. Not only did we go through interesting farmland, but we had fascinating interactions with those on our bus: US chefs, sorghum farmers from west Africa, date palm tenders from Algeria, the aforementioned cider producers and June Taylor, one of the best, artisanal jam producers in our country. The workshops, which mostly had to do with issues of importance to traditional producers in one part of the world or another, underscored how important it is for those interested in keeping alive traditional agriculture and preparations to band together in a single voice--to offer a loud, compelling and convincing argument for both the viability and significance of keeping alive traditional foodways. It was invigorating, to say the least, to be part of such diversity.



So, you can tell what I think about the Terra Madre. And now that a great number of chefs have been added to the mix, I think we'll see Terra Madre (and it's host organization Slow Food) have an even great influence in forming the direction of food in the world.