Larry Turner, associate Dean for University of Kentucky Extension and Director of Cooperative Extension Service, was among those who perished in the Comair 5191 crash yesterday.

We wish to extend our deepest condolences to his family, friends and loved ones.

Turner worked closely with one of the US Terra Madre delegates as well as with Slow Food and has been active in supporting those ideals we hold dear.

His loss will be deeply felt.

More...

More...

Slow Food Zante convivium members wine makers’ Solomos produced traditional wines after 150 years of neglect by saving almost extinct grape varieties and using traditional vinification methods.  First bottling offered at a harvest celebration event in the Island of Zakynthos.

More...

I just had a rather disgusting fibre/snack bar for breakfast, along with a tepid cup of weak airport coffee. The bar was by Nature’s Path, based on my favorite colon-blasting breakfast cereal (Optimum), and the brownish pee-water was from Tim Horton’s, Canada’s big donut chain, where I used to buy mid-morning break coffee during my first office job. In both cases, I was clearly consuming something other than organoleptic delight, and instead bringing into the self a lot of dissociated meaning and values, according to that branding stuff I’ve just been studying.

But that’s another story.

More...

Hello everyone out there in Terra Madre blogland. I’m Gary, UniSG Masters student and ‘owner’ of the mouth2mouth blog over on the blogroll. I’m off on Monday 21st August to start my final stage project in Kenya with Samuel Muhunyu and Ugo Vallauri. We’ve got lots of stuff planned based around the subject of general communications and knowledge sharing for food communities, but we’ll be posting more of that as we go one, but we have one rather pressing requirement.

We need to raise USD3,000. Like, now…

More...

Many Terra Madre delegates and food communities are widely written about and more than a few of them write quite a bit themselves. Back in February, Samuel Muhunyu, the Kenyan leader of the Network for Ecofarming in Africa and leader of the Community of Seedsavers from Molo and Makueni, was profiled along with his organization in the pages of Spore, a newsletter about agricultural development in ACP countries. The article is also available in Français and Portoguês.

On Sunday, California peach and grape grower Mas Masumoto’s moving essay about farming with his father was published in the New York Times Magazine. Masumoto has written a number of books – some award-winning, even – about his farming experiences. You can read more about him here.

Tell us if you’ve been profiled or if you’ve written something we can link to – you can email us at tmblog AT slowfood DOT com with the link if you need help posting it.

Well, I guess you could call us a loose association of British communities, either catching or using fish, committed to the Slow Food criteria of ‘Clean, Good and Fair’ . . . in other words good for the environment, of the highest eating quality, and with a fair return to the fishers. Long term, we think that fishermen, greens, chefs, indeed everyone, want the same thing . . . lots of fish in the sea, from which good catches can be taken, while leaving plenty in the sea for everthing else. The challenge, for those fisheries that are depleted (now there is a debate!), is how to get there. We are looking forward to exchanging ideas and experiences on this both at Terre Madre and hopefully through a good deal of networking beforehand so that we can get the most out of it.

More...

Linda Darema, rappresentante a Terra Madre della Comunità dei pastori Barabaig della Tanzania, ci scrive scusandosi per il ritardo con cui ha risposto alle nostre mail, a causa dei lunghi periodi di lavoro in zone remote del paese.
In seguito alla nostra telefonata per sollecitare l’invio di notizie circa la comunità, Linda ci scrive che dopo aver pedalato per 70 km ha potuto raggiungere una città servita dalle linee telefoniche, ed è così stata in grado di inviarci le informazioni necessarie.

I Barabaig sono una piccola popolazione agro-pastorale della zona del monte Hanang, nella Tanzania centro-settentrionale.
Nonostante il crescente processo di sedentarizzazione, i Barabaig continuano in buona parte a condurre una vita nomade o transumante, ricavando il proprio nutrimento dalle mandrie di bovini e ovini allevate.
Oltre al latte, alla carne e al sangue, alimenti basilari per la loro nutrizione, i Barabaig ricavano dagli animali le pelli con le quali producono oggetti, abbigliamento e ripari.
Spesso all’allevamento viene associata un’ agricoltura di sussistenza, in particolare di mais, in piccoli appezzamenti che a differenza dei ricoveri notturni per gli animali domestici non sono protetti da siepi di arbusti spinosi.
Per questo è comune che i Barabaig costruiscano le capanne al limitare dei campi, per proteggere le coltivazioni dagli animali selvatici.

L’impegno di Linda nel rispondere alle nostre richieste, nonostante le difficoltà tecniche e ambientali, è stata una piacevole soddisfazione, oltre che un richiamo a tenere a mente le enormi differenze di condizioni di lavoro e ad essere consapevoli che gli strumenti e le comodità che noi diamo per scontate, così scontate non sono.

sb

Trouble a-brewing? No, just one poor lad’s attempt to grapple with language and definitions. A desperate cry for help with a problem that needs solving. A tale of displaced ice cream and localized frustration. A long, long blogpost from the western reaches of Mother Earth (that’s “TM” in New World-speak).

But seriously: here’s an issue that needs a bunch of voices to contribute:
What is local? And how do you define it--with relevant, valuable meaning--in different parts of the world?

(Look out, Terra Madre, here we come!)

More...

Is there anywhere Terre Madre delegates, organisers, observers… you and me i guess… can find out a reasonably updated list of who is coming to the event in October??

More...