In September I will be attending Terre Madre The World’s biggest Food & Wine Festival, the Salone De Gusto in Turin. With 5000 delegates registered and over 100000 people expected to attend the week long event, this is the Mecca of the Foodie . I get the opportunity to meet with the artisan producers of locavore from all round Italy, which in turn helps me put a new series of tours together to visit these wonderful artisans as part of our off the beaten track wine and food tours. Slow Food Brisbane and Slow Food Noosa will have a strong presence at this years event, and over the course of the event i will be writing stories to give a feel of the magnitude of this foodie heaven. Here are the highlights taken from the Terre Madre website
The world’s most important international event dedicated to food culture will bring 5,000 delegates from 160 countries, over 800 exhibitors, 300 Slow Food Presidia, and 500 food communities from the Terra Madre network to Turin (Piedmont, Italy) from September 20 to 24, 2018.
The workshops offer a way of learning while tasting (and smelling, touching, hearing and seeing), stimulating the senses while delving into topical issues and fascinating products and hearing stories directly from the producers. As usual, this year we will be turning the spotlight on foods, beverages and people—with more international participation than ever before—offering up a rich program of tastings and stories.
Lingotto Fiere – Thematic Taste Workshops and Cooking Schools
Here’s what’s new: This year the Taste Workshops will be delving deep in the themes of the Food for Change spaces in the Lingotto, offering 104 opportunities for chefs, producers, connoisseurs and experts to show us how change is really just a forkful away.
The Slow Meat workshops will emphasize the importance of biodiversity and breeds, with a focus on natural cured meats, produced without nitrites or nitrates. In line with the crux of Slow Food’s campaign on meat consumption— that we should be eating less meat, of better quality—there will also be an invitation to rediscover the joys of vegetarian alternatives, with a fascinating journey through legume varieties from around the world.
In the Slow Fish workshops, we’ll be exploring lesser-known freshwater and saltwater fish, taking you around the world’s rivers, seas and oceans—from Bahia to Denmark, Morocco to Japan—to try to offer answers to many questions: What’s the best way to choose fish? Is there such a thing as sustainable sushi? Are there cheaper and equally delicious alternatives to the usual fish we always buy?
We’ll also be opening a window onto the world of Seeds: millet, ancient grains, rice, but also fruits and vegetables, as well as the corns of Slow Mays, a network of producers who preserve local corn varieties that are freely pollinated and naturally selected in the field. Have you always wanted to try growing your own organic vegetables? We also have practical workshops where you can learn everything you need to know to get started.
The diversity of events is mind boggling, and spending a week there will be like running a marathon, so pre planning is essential
Scrolling through the calendar of activities programmed as part of “Terra Madre In,” (the activities by Slow Food outside of Lingotto as well as submissions from the “I Am Terra Madre” call), it’s clear that one of the guiding characteristics of this edition of Salone del Gusto will be the many diverse cultural offerings from across the city’s neighborhoods. The count is already at over 100 activities, and this is just the start.
Here are some suggestions, but we recommend browsing the calendar to find all the activities offered.
Festivals
Mirafiori Sud and San Pietro in Vincoli are two destinations not to be missed. They will be hosting not just events, but whole festivals—Mirafiori h24 and Siediti Vicino a Me respectively—with many different activities planned. You might, for example, choose to take part in one of the “Mani in Pasta” collective self-production workshops in which the elderly ladies of Mirafiori will be teaching participants how to make different shapes of fresh pasta, or sign up for the “Mirafiori Green Tour,” a guided walk through the neighborhood’s green spaces, retracing its agricultural history from past to present.
Guided tours
If you’d like to get to know the city better, Turismo Torino e Provincia will be organizing guided walking and cycling tours that will take in royal residences, baroque churches and local food-producing companies. Migrantour from Porta Palazzo will be offering an alternative reading of the city through the many different stories of migration that have contributed to its social, cultural, economic and urban development. Moreover, Tour DiVini and Slow Food convivia of Piedmont have collaborated for 15 different slow itineraries. They will be available from 15 to 30 September.
Dinners, Workshops, Debates
There will also be debates, anti-waste workshops, interactive experiences (fancy learning how to make your own vermouth?) and competitions for professional and amateur cooks. Tables will be set for dinners and lunches on rooftops (Casa Ozanam) and in courtyards (Alma Terra) to highlight the value of integration and the richness of sharing, but also in the sumptuous halls of the city’s historic buildings (Palazzo Ceriana Mayneri), where for once the focus will be on left-handed diners.
