What is Terra Madre?

WHAT IS TERRA MADRE?

Extract from Terra Madre, Carlo Petrini’s latest book.

Terra Madre first appeared on the global political and economic scene in 2004. It began as a large meeting of people from all over the world, but soon turned into a permanent network—or rather a number of networks—whose members work day by day, wherever they happen to be, to create a new economic, agricultural, food and cultural model.

Terra Madre is a concrete way of putting into practice what has been defined as “glocalism”: a set of actions carried out on a local scale to generate major repercussions on a global scale. It has evolved in the course of time and now has a policy of its own, shared values and medium and long-term objectives. Terra Madre is thus much more than just a biennial get-together. ...-... It is an open network of local food communities that welcomes anyone who shares its ideals, even if they do things differently or work in diverse geographical and operating contexts. It embodies a new approach to the production, processing, distribution and consumption of food, drawing liberally on the history of the world’s populations, but also looking ahead. It’s conscious of the mess we have gotten ourselves into, but it’s not afraid of the future.

The 1,000 events organized for Terra Madre Day by the Slow Food and Terra Madre network, together have just proven this. Congratulations and keep the good work and the spirits up.

Carlo Petrini
Slow Food Founder and President