Slow Food movement celebrates 20 years in December

The very first worldwide Terra Madre Day is to be held on December 10, 2009 to celebrate locally produced food that is good, clean and fair: food that tastes good and is produced without harming the environment and taking social justice issues into consideration.

The day will be celebrated across 150 countries by Slow Food's 100,000 members, organized in 1,300 convivia (local chapters) and the Terra Madre network: more than 2,000 food communities, cooks, educators and youth.

December 10 is Slow Food’s 20th anniversary, two decades after the signing of the Slow Food Manifesto in Paris in 1989 that started the international association. Slow Food has chosen to celebrate its first 20 years with Terra Madre Day in recognition of these communities' remarkable achievements and their crucial role for the future of food.

Terra Madre Day will be one of the largest collective celebrations of food diversity ever achieved on a global scale, celebrated in endless ways in all corners of the world, from small gatherings to large events: celebratory communal meals, themed film screenings and cultural events, excursions to producers, campaigns, meetings and discussions, food and taste education activities, local gatherings of producers, cooks or youth. Celebrations will take place on farms and in homes, in restaurants, schools and communities, in cities and in rural areas.

Terra Madre Day events will raise attention of the importance of “eating locally” and on the right for all communities to maintain and build access to good, clean and fair food; agricultural and food biodiversity; small-scale food production; food sovereignty; language, cultural and traditional knowledge; environmentally responsible food production; and fair and sustainable trade.

Through this celebratory day, Slow Food aims to raise awareness of the potential power of the multitude of people gathered by Terra Madre. Terra Madre Day aims to strengthen relationships among the network’s members in order to build support for grassroots local economies. The Terra Madre network is made up of farmers, fishers, breeders, artisan food producers, cooks, academics, youth, activists and others whose everyday actions play an important role in the safeguarding of food, the environment and traditional culture.

View the map on the Terra Madre Day website to find events going on around the world:

slowfood.com/terramadreday/pagine/eng/mappa.lasso

For further information on Slow Food: slowfood.com

For further information on Terra Madre: terramadre.org