Terra Madre Slow Food Conference
Reflection by Emily May '10
Through an ACE Mini-Grant, as well as the support of Environmental Affairs, Emily May '10, Jonathan Campbell '11, Daniel Kane '09, and Rosalind Chaplin '09 were able to attend the Terra Madre Slow Food conference in Torino, Italy for five days in late October 2008. The conference brought together over 7,000 food producers, chefs, academics, and students from all over the world to discuss the most salient food issues of the day: water, meat production, sustainability, the pollinator crisis, and more. During the course of the conference, we met dozens of young farmers and students learning to become activists for just, sustainable food in a food system that will require immense and fundamental changes over the coming century. We attended lectures, panels, and workshops that gave us a sense of the cornucopia of international perspectives and ideas about how we can collectively change the food system. It was an incredible experience for all of us, and we are grateful that we were allowed this opportunity.
Coming back from Terra Madre, we have a rejuvenated sense of inspiration and excitement about the possibilities for supporting just, sustainable food systems at the local, regional, national, and to some degree, international level. Whope to create a Vermont Youth Food Network, under the umbrella of a national youth food network called the Real Food Challenge, which we connected with in Italy. With the regional connections that we made at the conference, we hope to hold eat-ins and various other events with this youth food network in support of state-level changes, such as the development of small-scale processing infrastructure, the legalization of raw milk, and a shift of support from Vermont's struggling dairy industry to its small, organic producers. We certainly plan to continue the activism that we began by attending this conference, and we hope to spread the inspiration and excitement that we gained from it.
