Slow Food home | About us | Foundation | Editore | Sloweb | Press Office | Store     Sloweb     Home | Sloweek | Voices from the Slow world | Slow Talk | News | Watch & Listen             FOCUS ON TERRA MADRE 2008 / SALONE DEL GUSTO: The Youth Food Movement meeting 27 Oct 08 - News da Terra Madre The Youth Food Movement (YFM) meeting, held yesterday afternoon in the Oval arena, started off with ‘stomp, clap, stomp stomp, clap, knee-slap’ as three youth delegates instructed a crowd of 500 to stand up and take part in a little sequence they had choreographed to welcome and motivate the young seed savers, cooks, farmers, crofters, breeders and fisherfolk from around the world gathered at Terra Madre 2008. The meeting was organized as a platform for young and determined delegates to come together to exchange stories of the different steps they have taken in their own communities to promote the message of good, clean and fair food production - in protest against the modern fast food culture which dominates us today. Elizabeth Manning, Slow Food International coordinator for youth initiatives opened the seminar with her counterpart Cecily Upton of Slow Food USA. Since its emergence over the past year, Slow Food International has been working to support the Youth Food Movement and its vision. Upton, who has been supporting the development of the Slow Food On Campus program emphasising that the network's strength was in its diversity said ‘we are the greatest multinational, we are not a monocrop.’ Kenyan John Kariuki, 21, Vice President of Slow Food International, also addressed the delegates, speaking of the need to find sustainable solutions to increase food productivity, decrease rural poverty, prevent the contamination of indigenous food and enhance food security in Africa. He stated that one in three Africans are undernourished and according to the World Food Program, 1 billion people currently live on less than $1 per day. Other speakers included Josh Viertel, president of Slow Food USA, who read Barack Obama’s comment on Michael Pollan’s recent open letter published in the New York Times Magazine addressing the future president of the USA about what needs to be done to transform the current agricultural system; Carlo Petrini, President of Slow Food, who spoke of the importance of bringing different generations together and of filming and documenting oral traditions and farming methods to spare their disappearance; and Rahul Antao, an Indian student at the University of Gastronomic Sciences (Pollenzo, Italy) who delivered a strong and inspiring speech in which he outlined the need for youth to take action against the current commercial dictatorship of agriculture and to regain trust in each other, as they have lost faith in governments worldwide. Projects across the youth network were also discussed: the Pangea exchange project, an opportunity for youths to learn and document the knowledge and skills of farmers, fishermen and artisan producers from the Slow Food and Terra Madre network; the EAT IN project, described as ‘happy activism’ (www.eat-in.org); and a seed-saving program in Ecuador presented by Fernanda Menses, a young volunteer of the program, visibly proud of the food culture and heritage she is involved in preserving. At the end of the meeting, youth delegates were asked to pledge how they could bring about change in their own community and write it down on the YFM cards provided. For more information on the Youth Food Movement please visit: www.youthfoodmovement.org YFM-Facebook Group   News archive from Terramadre News archive from Slowfood Foundation for Biodiversity News archive from University of Gastronomic Sciences News archive from Watch & Listen           News     United States - 01 Sep 10     Eataly in New York     The philosophy and campaigns promoted by Slow Food over the past twenty years to strengthen regional, tasty and sustainable food, and reconnect consumers with the origin of their food, have...           News archive     Brazil - 17 Aug 10     Gastromotiva     Terra Madre chef and Slow Food convivium empower disadvantaged youth to enter culinary careers ...     Russia - 16 Aug 10     Biodiversity Hangs in the Balance     Slow Food joins the protest against destruction of Europe’s largest repository of rare fruit ...     United Kingdom - 13 Aug 10     Food Justice     Slow Food UK praises social justice report’s call for action ...     Philippines - 10 Aug 10     Against the Grain     The Indigenous Taguibong people in the Philippines continue to practice the traditional rice threshing and milling methods of their ancestors ...     Georgia - 05 Aug 10     Meeting in the Birthplace of the Vine     First Terra Madre Georgia held with a focus on wine and small producers ...     Italy - 03 Aug 10     Strengthening the Indigenous Voice     Slow Food enters into a partnership to advocate for indigenous groups around the world ...     Archive previous news   Slow Food 2010 - All rights reserved - P.iva 91008360041 - Powered by Blulab