On the basis of our fruit and vegetable books, we were invited to join 8000 other participants from 150 countries at the third Slow Food international Terra Madre conference in Turin.
For four days a diverse mix of food communities, small scale farmers and fishermen, chefs, traditional medicine growers and practitioners, university educators, consumers - including over a thousand young people - considered how good traditional vegetable, fruit, herb, fish and meat produce and products could be preserved and expanded by self-sustaining methods.
Fortunately the original focus on food’s taste and texture was widened to include health, not surprisingly when you consider the background of GM-led industrial agriculture having a detrimental effect on rural life and health in many developing nations.
It was sad that many of the young people who were studying agriculture had opted out of the organic/ecological modules because bigger salaries lay elsewhere but, to offset this, the concept of school gardens is being resurrected on a major scale in many countries, and growing your own, as we do, was seen as a essential contribution to good health by most of the more elderly participants like us.
In several sessions a big plea was made for the world’s grandparents, who can remember the days of heirloom seeds and breeds and gardening without chemical products, to share this knowledge together with healthier recipes with their mobile/fast food-focused grandchildren. If they don’t succeed, much valuable local knowledge will be lost for ever.
Clodagh and Richard Handscombe are practical gardeners, authors and broadcasters living healthily from their holistic garden and slow life in Spain. Books include the bestsellers 'Growing Healthy Vegetables in Spain' and 'Growing Healthy Fruit in Spain'.
© Clodagh and Richard Handscombe www.gardeninginspain.com November 2008
( Apologies that the website was wrong on our two previous contributions).