SLOW FOOD PRESIDIA SLOW FOOD PRESIDIA 1 Editors: Francesca Baldereschi, Salvatore Ciociola, Eleonora Giannini, Serena Milano, Raffaella Ponzio Editorial team: Andrea Amato, Elena Aniere, Annalisa Audino, Carlotta Baitone, Valentina Bassanese, Valentina Bianco, Typhaine Briand, Roba Bulga, Elisabetta Cane, Silvia Ceriani, Chiara Davico, Elisa Demichelis, Davide Dotta, Emanuele Dughera, Tiziana Gazzera, Valerie Ganio Vecchiolino, John Kariuki, Nazarena Lanza, Michela Lenta, Catherine Mann, Irene Marocco, Valentina Meraviglia, Marta Messa, Jonathan Moody, Eleonora Olivero, Michele Rumiz, Piero Sardo, Anandi Soans, Victoria Smelkova Translation: Carla Ranicki English edition editing: Simone Gie, Catherine Mann, Jonathan Moody Layout and graphics: Alessia Paschetta, Claudia Saglietti Cover photo: Ankole Cattle Presidium, Uganda– © Alberto Prina Printing: La Stamperia – Carrù (Cn, Italy) – Printed on recycled paper This project is funded by the European Union The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of the author and the EASME is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein. CONTENTS 4 Slow Food is... 7 Biodiversity according to Slow Food 9 Slow Food Presidia 10 Tell it on the label 12 The Slow Food Presidia brand 13 Slow Food Chefs’ Alliance 14 A brand for Presidia Coffee 16 Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity supporters 19 Slow Food Presidia 20 Europe 35 Italy 139 Africa 151 Americas 162 Asia and Oceania 3 SLOW © Peter Blystone Marco Del Comune & Oliver Migliore FOOD IS... … a network of members Slow Food is an international organization committed to ensuring everyone has the right to access and enjoy good food: good for eaters, producers and the environ- ment. It was founded as a non-profit organization in 1989 to combat the spread of fast food culture and the disappearance of local food traditions and works to raise awareness of the impact our food choices have on the world around us. Slow Food believes that everyone has the right to quality food and, consequently, each of us has a responsibility to protect the heritage of biodiversity, culture and inter-generational knowledge that make eating one of the fundamental pleasures of life. Slow Food involves millions of people who share the philosophy of “good, clean and fair” food, a network of passionate chefs, experts, youth, producers, fishers and academics in more than 160 countries. Included in this movement are 100,000 members joined in 1,500 local groups, who contribute financially to the association through membership fees and participate in events organized in their region. There are also 2,500 Terra Madre food communities who are engaged in small-scale sus- tainable food production. > Find out more about Slow Food’s activities: www.slowfood.com 4 ... food and taste education Education is fundamental to Slow Food’s strategies and cuts across all of its projects and activities. To Slow Food, educating means promoting the pleasure of food, awareness in purchasing choices, respect for nature and the seasons, and apprecia- tion of producers and their knowledge to children, young people and adults. With the Master of Food, Taste Workshops, school gardens, conferences and semi- nars, Slow Food is bringing the public closer to food and taste education. Since 2004, the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo has also offered multidisciplinary courses that merge humanities and sciences, sensory training and communications, campus-based activities and study trips around Italy and the world, to provide an understanding of the complexity and interdisciplinary nature of food. > Find out more about Slow Food’s education projects: www.slowfood.com/education ... biodiversity protection In order to safeguard, defend and promote food biodiversity and to strengthen local communities, Slow Food, through the Slow Food Foundation, coordinates and sponsors a number of projects to support small-scale food producers: the Presidia, the 10,000 Gardens in Africa, Earth Markets and the Ark of Taste. > Find out more about the Slow Food Foundation’s activities and projects: www.slowfoodfoundation.org 5 © Adele Obice ... Terra Madre Terra Madre is a global network bringing together all those who want to act to preserve, encourage and promote methods of fishing, farming and food production that are sustainable and in harmony with nature, the landscape and tradition. Every day, the Terra Madre family is growing, becoming richer and more organized. The first members of this network were the food communities, who have since been joined by chefs, academics, young people and musicians. The driving force behind the global network are the meetings that, since 2004, have been held regularly in every continent in the world. These gatherings give food pro- ducers, farmers, academics, chefs, fishers and NGOs a chance to come together and share knowledge and experiences. > Find food communities in your region or network events: www.terramadre.org 6 BIODIVERSITY ACCORDING TO SLOW FOOD Biodiversity is the diversity of life, from the simplest level (genes and bacteria) to the most complex (animal and plant species, ecosystems). Biodiversity allows plants and animals to counter the unexpected and adapt to cli- matic changes, parasite attacks and diseases. A varied biological system is equipped with the necessary antibodies to deal with harmful organisms and to regain its own equilibrium; a system with low diversity is instead very fragile. For this reason, protecting biodiversity is the most important insurance we can take out for our future. If biodiversity disappears, what will happen to our food? Together with wild flora and fauna, many plants domesticated by man and animal breeds selected for their milk or meat are disappearing. According to the FAO, 75% of edible plant varieties have been irreversibly lost. Today 60% of the world’s food is provided by three cereals (wheat, rice and corn) and the human diet is based upon a few selected hybrid varieties, sold to farmers by a handful of multinationals. This is why Slow Food, through its Foundation, is putting in place projects to protect agricultural biodiversity all around the world. 7 FIND OUT MORE Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity Tel. +39 0172 419701 Fax +39 0172 419725 © Paolo Andrea Montanaro © Paolo [email protected] Biodiversity protection projects In order to protect biodiversity, we must first understand it. To do this, Slow Food created the Ark of Taste, a project to collect and catalogue plant and animal species as well as food products like cheeses, cured meats, breads and sweets. Everyone can get involved by nominating a product to save on the website www.slowfoodfoundation.org/ark The Ark of Taste is a catalogue of products, but Slow Food also runs projects that directly involve the food producers: the Presidia. The Slow Food Presidia take concre- te action to safeguard a traditional food at risk of extinction (an Ark product) thus becoming the operational phase of the Ark. Presidia are also established to protect a traditional technique at risk of being lost (fishing, breeding, processing, farming etc.) or preserve a rural landscape (for example, ancient olive groves or citrus orchards). Two other important tools used to protect, enhance and promote biodiversity are the Slow Food gardens (family, community and school) and the Earth Markets, which unite small-scale producers and consumers. > To discover more about the Slow Food Foundation’s activities around the world, visit www.slowfoodfoundation.org 8 FIND OUT MORE Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity Tel. +39 0172 419701 Fax +39 0172 419725 [email protected] Andrea Montanaro © Paolo PRESIDIA • There are more 450 Slow Food Presidia, in 56 countries around the world. • They involve more than 13,000 small-scale food producers: farmers, fishers, butchers, herders, cheesemakers, bakers and more. • They are concrete virtuous examples of a new agricultural model, based on quality, the recovery of traditional knowledge, respect for the seasons and animal welfare. • They support small-scale traditional productions at risk of disappearing, endorse unique regions, recover ancient crafts and processing techniques, safeguard native breeds and fruit and vegetable varieties from extinction. • They save products which are good (of high quality and rooted in the local culture), clean (made using sustainable methods and with respect for the local area), and fair (produced in conditions that respect people, their rights and their culture, while providing a fair return). • They strengthen local economies and encourage the creation of a strong alliance between producers and consumers. The Slow Food Presidia are part of the Terra Madre network of food com- munities and are promoted and coordinated by the Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity. > The official list of Presidia around the world and producers involved in the Slow Food project can be found on the website www.slowfoodfoundation.org 9 9 TELL IT ON THE LABEL Slow Food has developed a new label, which could represent a small revolution for food product communication: the narrative label. In addition to the information required by law, the narrative label (a counter-label) pro- vides precise information about the producers, their farms, the plant varieties or animal breeds used, the cultivation, breeding and processing methods used, animal welfare, and regions of origin. To evaluate a food’s quality, we require more than chemical or physical analyses or simply tasting it. Technical approaches fail to take into account what lies behind a product – its origin, history, processing techniques – and do not give consumers an insight into whe- ther a food has been produced with respect for the environment and social justice. Furthermore, product marketing is often confusing, with references to idyllic farming sce- nes, supposed traditional methods and vague suggestions of ancient flavors. However, these evocative concepts are usually far removed from the true nature of the advertised product. This is testified by the long lists of additives and unfamiliar ingredients found on the food labels filling our shopping trolleys, light years away from the advertising images and slogans.