Today is Terra Madre day, and to celebrate it I thought I would share some of the photographs I took while at Terra Madre in Torino in October. I’ve already shared many of the great things I had to eat at the Salone del Gusto, here, here and here. As you know from my blog, my lens is – for the most part – usually focused on food and places, and rarely on people. I find people really easy to talk to, but really hard to photograph. I’m not a great photographer, and it I think it takes a lot of talent to take great portraits.
But I’ll go ahead and share these with you anyway, just because I want to introduce you to Terra Madre. Terra Madre has their meeting at the same time as the Salone del Gusto, both organized by Slow Food. But while the Salone is all about the eating and the buying, Terra Madre is something quite different. If it weren’t for Terra Madre – and the people who are actually producing the food – there wouldn’t be a Salone. As Carlo Petrini, the head of Slow Food, put it “Slow Food, and the Salone, is at the service of Terra Madre.”
“Terra Madre brings together those players in the food chain who together support sustainable agriculture, fishing, and breeding with the goal of preserving taste and biodiversity.” And in Torino I had the great honor to meet with, and talk to, many of those ‘players’, 5000 of whom came from all over the world to discuss the future of our planet.
It was an incredibly moving experience. But since the two events – The Salone del Gusto and Terra Madre – run simultaneously, it was hard to be in two places at once. I only wish I had had more time to attend the meetings and discussions that were held over five days. I will certainly be going back in 2012.
I wish we had more time to spend there too and would definitely want to spend more time there next time. I do think it would be more appropriate if they made them separate events, so that the people who came for terra madre would get more attention. Glad you went though and thanks for the photos!