Terra Madre Salone del Gusto 2024:the global encounter with nature returns in September

“Terra Madre Salone del Gusto 2024” is back:from 26 to 30 September at Parco Dora in Turin.“The era of competitiveness must end,” says Carlo Petrini.

• The 15th edition of Terra Madre Salone del Gusto will be held in Turin from 26 to 30 September 2024.
• “We are nature” is the slogan of the new edition, that is, finding a balance between man and nature.
• The event will host over 3 thousand delegates from 120 different countries.

Identify a new perspective that places human beings within nature, as part of the whole:this is the spirit that animates it 15th edition of Terra Madre Salone del Gusto, event organized by Slow Food in collaboration with the city of Turin and the Piedmont Region.

From the 26 to 30 September 2024, Turin will host the event in Parco Dora, a symbol of urban regeneration.This edition aims to redesign our relationship with nature through food:in this sense, “We are nature” will not just be a slogan, but the summa of the Slow Food philosophy, cultivated for almost 40 years of the association's history (and 20 of Terra Madre).The objective of the event will be to make people understand that good, clean and fair food is essential not only for our health, but also for environmental sustainability.

The competitive model of the food system has come to an end

“There is a food that is bad for your health,” he begins Serena Milan, director of Slow Food Italia, during the launch conference of the event which was held on 9 July 2024 in Turin.“According to the Lancet journal, ultra-processed foods kill more than smoking.Teens and children are bombarded with advertising messages and stuffed with foods that do not nourish them.And so in Italy one child in 4 is obese.Then there is a food that fuels waste:more than a third of what we produce is lost and thrown away.It is a food that tolerates exploitation, deaths at work and slavery in the name of profit.In short, a food that not only does not feed the world, but which causes hunger.Let's think about what is happening with intensive aquaculture, the food sector that is growing the fastest:to breed and sell carnivorous fish like salmon at low prices, we are emptying the African seas.A system in which almost everyone loses to the advantage of very few.At Terra Madre we call the whole world together to tell another story.The history of food as nourishment, culture, conviviality, pleasure”.

The gentle revolution proposed by Terra Madre is precisely this:rediscover people's relationship with the natural world, rediscover themselves as part of nature.From every corner of the world, from every region of Italy, thousands of concrete examples of food produced by observing nature, collaborating with nature will arrive in Turin.Communities will arrive that protect the soil, biodiversity, that produce true well-being, "which has little to do with that measured by the GDP", concludes Milano.

“The time for competitiveness is over,” he underlines Carlo Petrini, founder of Slow Food.“Only with cooperation can we win the ecological challenge.When we published our book 20 years ago in which we talked about 'good, clean and fair' food, they told us that we had chosen a political title.We had highlighted how food cannot be exempt from any of these three elements.Today more than ever, with a demographic situation on a global level that has led to an increase in the world population of 1.5 billion individuals and a galloping climate crisis, it is necessary to join forces to deal with this state of affairs.The tractor protest showed us that low-paid food has ended up pitting farmers and environmentalists against each other.We must reflect on the schizophrenia of the moment.The model produce more, spend less has reached the end of the line.In this edition, Terra Madre Salone del Gusto intends to promote healthy education and a deeper knowledge of the food sector and all the dynamics that underlie it.Only through this path will it be possible to create awareness of be nature and deliver a different future to the new generations."

The Terra Madre Salone del Gusto program is rich and varied

Also speaking at the conference were mayor of Turin, Stefano Lo Russo, who underlined how the importance of Parco Dora as a location for the event represents "a symbol of urban regeneration and contamination between different cultures", and the president of the Piedmont Region Alberto Cirio which highlighted the importance of Terra Madre as a forum for the knowledge and culture of food and food sustainability.“This year, the event will also host the National Table on Food Systems, bringing together experts and representatives from the main Italian cities to discuss Italy's role in food, sustainability and food security at an international level,” Cirio recalled.

The Terra Madre Salone del Gusto 2024 program includes a wide range of activities, from markets to taste laboratories, from conferences to cultural events.The official site of the event already presents a first catalog of exhibitors and part of the program, with further details that will be added in the coming months.The event will host over 3 thousand delegates from 120 countries and over 600 exhibitors, including approximately 180 Slow Food presidia from Italy and abroad.Furthermore, after the break forced by the pandemic, the project of hosting delegates in the homes of Turin resumes:a way to strengthen the links between the event and the territory, involving families, institutions, associations and volunteers, in short, offering a unique cultural exchange experience.

A space dedicated to biodynamics

Among the events there is one dedicated tobiodynamic agriculture, from the name “Agriculture that cultivates well-being:for a hundred years biodynamics has regenerated the land and nourished health", scheduled for Friday 27 September (at 3 pm), in which he will speak Enrico Amico, president of Demeter Italy.“We are very happy – declared Amico – to have undertaken, since last year, a collaboration with Slow Food with which we share the same values ​​of protection and respect for nature and, above all, for the products it offers us”.

The biodynamic farming method, inspired by Rudolf Steiner, will have an area dedicated to seminars and workshops:from fsoil fertility toorthotherapy, from infusions and essences to relationship with animals, both domestic and on the farm.“The theme of the 2024 edition of Terra Madre is precisely 'being nature', understood as the balanced relationship of human beings with nature, absolutely in line with the philosophy of biodynamic agriculture”, concluded the director of Demeter Italia.

• The 2024 edition of Terra Madre Salone del Gusto is made possible thanks to institutions and main partners:Turin Chamber of Commerce, Demeter, Iren, Lavazza Group, Pastificio Di Martino, Quality Beer Academy, Reale Mutua, UniCredit.