Terra Madre 2008 Conference

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The US delegation to Terra Madre 2008 represented over 40 states, and at over 700 people comprised the second largest delegation to the conference.  They were vegetable growers, livestock and honey producers, grain growers, cheese and preserve makers, heirloom seed savers, food justice advocates, professors, Slow Food in Schools leaders, University students, restaurant chefs, food service directors, and bakers.

Press Coverage

To find articles about Terra Madre 2008, please click here.

The Terra Madre Newsletter

Slow Food International produces a monthly newsletter that highlights the projects and activities of the food communities of Terra Madre.  This link may direct you to the page in Italian, if so, you can go to the main Terra Madre page and select “English.”  For the archives of the newsletter, click here.

Voices of Terra Madre

To watch a documentary about Terra Madre 2008, including wonderful clips of delegates, click here.

Now back home, delegates to the 2008 conference are busy, not just on the farm and in the kitchen, but on the streets, in the press, and in the blogosphere.  Here are some highlights that give you a sense of their geographical spread as well as the diversity of their talents:

   
• Academic delegates Jonathan Deutsch and Annie Hauck-Lawsom celebrated the publication of their book “Gastropolis,” reviewed on the SFUSA blog.
   
• Winona LaDuke talks seeds in Yes Magazine’s April edition.
   
• California rice farmer Greg Massa wrote a piece for Ethicurean about his speaking engagement in Germany and his history as an anti-GMO fighter.
   
• Will Allen gave some advice to Obama and his transition team.  Also, he was up for White House Farmer .  And, check out the feature about Will and Growing Power and all of their innovative urban agriculture techniques in Yes magazine.
   
• Michael Grady Robertson and the Queens County Farm Museum got attention in the NY Times for Robertson’s revitalization of their working sustainable farm.
   
• Alissa Hamilton’s book “Squeezed: What You Don’t Know About Orange Juice,” is due out in May, and the Boston Globe did a Q and A with her.
   
• Tim Galarneau was featured in Mother Jones for his amazing work as a co-founder of the Real Food Challenge, which seeks to transform college dining.
   
• The work of Julia Perkins and Damara Luce and their organization—the Coalition of Immokalee Workers—was featured in Gourmet Magazine, in an article called “Politics of the Plate: The Price of Tomatoes.”  Congrats to them for their success in getting Florida Governor Crist to voice support for their Fair Food Campaign!
     
• The Center for Rural Affairs’ Steph Larsen did a mighty job of keeping everyone abreast of the candidates for Secretary of Agriculture.
   

The US Regional Meeting

This gathering was the one opportunity at the conference for the US to discuss our agenda, our platform for moving forward.  The agenda was laid out by Erika Lesser and our new President, Josh Viertel, in his first public address in his new position. For a copy of the program from the US Regional Meeting at Terra Madre, click here.

For video coverage of Josh Viertel’s remarks about the future of Slow Food, click here.  For video coverage of Winona LaDuke’s remarks on the sacredness of food, click here.  For a video of farmer Dominic Palumbo’s remarks about the importance of educating the next generation of farmers, click here.

Slow Food USA Blog Coverage

For blog coverage of the event—including US delegate (and high schooler) Sam Levin’s remarks at the Opening Ceremony (pictured left), to one delegate’s take on the Closing Ceremony, and Slow Food’s invitation to speak at the G8 Summit, click here.