We’re proposing a radical paradigm shift, where political borders between states and regions are relegated to the background and ecosystems take center stage – plains, mountains, seas, rivers, lakes, cities. We assert that food doesn’t have political borders, nor barriers, but roots. It’s the result of journeys, exchanges, migrations, and sharing.
FORUMS
Our Forums are back, and as usual, the protagonists are members of the Slow Food network: Presidium and Community producers, cooks, activists and experts who discuss themes around agriculture, food, sustainability, biodiversity and productive models.
This year the Forums are organized around the four ecosystems: because similar ecosystems have similar frailties, and so may also share possible solutions to common problems. From October 8-12, we’ll discuss, among other things:
- resource management systems in the highlands
- water as a common good, as opposed to the privatization and control of water resources
- traditional seeds as opposed to GMOs, one of the front-line battles in the lowlands
- edible cities, where urban food gardens, farmers’ markets and the relationship between city and countryside are a potential antidote to food swamps and food deserts.
FOOD TALKS
A new format for Terra Madre Salone del Gusto 2020. Ten minutes talks on specific issues by writers, economists, philosophers, anthropologists, ecologists, educators, as well as farmers, herders, fishers and cooks, all of whom offer their own vision of the environment, agriculture and food: a collective framework of the future we want and need.
THE RELAY ON OCTOBER 10
Like a traditional opening ceremony, but redesigned for the digital era: think of the relay of October 10 as a miniseries, a journey in five parts that crosses continents and time zones, a global dialog on the big questions of our age:
- Asia and Oceania start from the climate and environmental crisis, the main problem which we need to confront if we are to guarantee a sustainable future for human life, and indeed all life, on this planet. We reassert our response based in biodiversity, and the search for a healthier equilibrium between humanity and the rest of nature.
- In Europe we confront the policies on the table as part of the Green Deal and the Farm to Fork strategy to create a healthier, more sustainable food system, one which protects the health and well-being of people as well as reinforcing the competitiveness and resilience of the European Union.
- In Africa and the Middle East the major themes to tackle are migration as a consequence of the degradation of natural resources, the scarcity of water and land rights, which are all too often denied or violated.
- In North America the debate focuses on food education, equity, inclusion and justice and how oppression is deeply rooted in all American systems, including the food system. We reaffirm our commitment to make Slow Food an anti-racist organization which truly aims to guarantee good, clean and fair food for all.
- In South America, finally, we confront the problems of the devastation of the Amazon rainforest and the battles of indigenous people who suffering discrimination, theft and genocide. All too often natural resources and the most vulnerable people are subject to the same iniquitous treatment, victims of an insatiable greed that deprives people of the very idea of a future.