OUR FOOD, OUR PLANET, OUR FUTURE

Food, planet, future.

The tagline of Terra Madre Salone del Gusto 2020 is apparently simple, and identifies a chain of relations that should be clear to all of us, even if we don’t always notice it.

Our relationships with our food – how we produce it, distribute it, choose it and eat it – have enormous impacts on our planet, and consequently, our future.

Red Fife What from Canada. Slow Food Presidium. Photo: Slow Food Archive.

A few years ago, we read the hilariously funny and deadly serious book What If? Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions, in which physicist, programmer and cartoonist Randall Munroe (perhaps best known as the author of the xkcd web-comic) answers bizarre questions like “What would happen if everyone on Earth gathered in one place and jumped at the same time?” with rigorous scientific accuracy.

WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF…

Beyond the ludicrous hypothetical questions, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to ask ourselves some questions about out food, and to think about some of the paradoxes present in our diet (which are often no less absurd than the propositions in Munroe’s book).

On the one hand… what would happen if we all ate exclusively imported food? If we only ate a single type of fish, or a single cut of meat? If we ate meat without thinking of the world of industrialized farms it comes from, stopped worrying about pesticides, and accepted the ecological collapse of bees and other pollinators with a shrug?

Aunt Molly’s Ground Cherry, USA. Ark of Taste. Photo: Oliver Migliore and Marco del Comune.

On the other hand… what would happen if we all ate local food and never used any plastic packaging? What would happen if we gave up on the idea of eating meat at least once a week? What would happen if we reduced our food waste by half?

Unfortunately, the future of the planet seems headed in a bleak direction with little hope because many of us – too many – don’t ask themselves these questions, and don’t realize the enormous environmental and social impact of the food we eat. We’re not used to considering cause-effect relationships, and think selfishly, without considering that our individual bad habits (for example eating meat multiple times daily) have devastating consequences when they become the worldwide norm.

FUTURE SCENARIOS

At Terra Madre Salone del Gusto 2020 we’ll imagine a variety of potential future scenarios, and to exert our influence now – because we’re running out of time – on which kind of future lies ahead.

Traditional white chuño, Peru. Slow Food Presidium. Photo: Slow Food Archive

We want to try and do this with the contribution of everyone. In our journey towards April 2021 we’ll ask you to take part in a number of ways, by participating in events, surveys and challenges. And we’ll try to understand where we’re going, and to identify the corrective action needed to ensure a better future.

Stay tuned and keep reading for further insights!