10-22-04 Julia Wiley reports from the Terra Madre Conference in Turin, Italy.

Julia Wiley of Mariquita Farms in Watsonville, CA (our favorite farmers stand at the Ferry Plaza Market, and wife of one of our favorite food writers Andy Griffin) was invited to the Terra Madre World Meeting of Food Communities in Turin, Italy, October 20-23. "Terra Madre will be a gathering of an unprecedented scale, drawing 5000 people from dozens of nations. Every participant will represent a 'Food Community' - which means they are part of a chain of production, linked by a common product, ethnic identity, region, history, or approach." She's going to file a few random reports when she manages to get a place in line at the local internet cafe. Not to mention, she gets to hang at the ultimate foodie heaven, the Salon de Gusto

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Friday afternoon, at an internet spot on a busy street in Torino.

Hello, friends,
 My mind is swimming. I had lunch today, first with 2 vanilla growers from Oaxaca, Mexico, then we were joined by Miguel Altieri, I think he's from Chile but is now a famous (in the agroecology field) professor at Berkeley. Then to dessert with some Cuban farmers and a Canadian farmer. Vamanos a Cuba!!! Then to tea and coffee with some Argentinian fruit growers. That was just lunch!

There truly are 130 countries, and 4888 "delegates" to Terra Madre, a historical summit of small scale producers (farmers, ranchers, fisherpeople, nomads) and "artesanos" for cheese making, etc etc etc. When you gather this many people with this many languages from that many countries - well,imagine the logistics! But here we are in Germanic, organized, industrial northern Italy, and life details are going very smoothly to my untrained eyes.

I learned about designation of origin (PDO - protected denomination of origin) from a farmer from Cheddar England, then later tasted 3 cheddars from his county at the Salone de Gusto, just a few blocks away. I learned some about the politics of "geographical indication" (PDO). Some of the PDOs in the world are Roquefort, Champagne, Tequila (Mexico), Antigua coffee, Basmati Rice, Fish sauce in Vietnam, Napa Valley Wines, etc.

(The next person in line to use the computer is Ari Zingerman, I've asked him to give a short report. He says he's learning lots about anchovies, great Dutch cheese, old varieties of Italian rice, (needs more study!), loved talking with Mas Masumoto, Terra Madre is a wild scene! Plug - Zingermans guide to good eating is his book, Zingermans.com)

Last night about 40 of us Americans and Argentinians were treated to a great dinner by the Alpini, a local veterans group who reminded me of an Italian Elks Club suddenly converting to the mantra of Slow Food. This was in a rural city, not unlike Watsonville, (replete with "Maurakini", Morracan workers, who didn't speak Italian wandering the streets after a long days work). We were treated to a great cheese course, and I sat next to the dairy man who produced the milk. The vintner was on the other side, the bean grower for the fagiola dish was at the next table. But when you first enter the Alpini hall, there's a wet bar where they are reluctant to serve water when it's so much better to have a "vermouth".

ciao !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   Julia

Posted by Bruce at October 23, 2004 05:57 AM