Torino, Terra Madre 2010, Arrival

24 hours later, or so, I think, and we're here! Travel always throws off the system a bit, and not having slept the night before leaving due to excitement really exaggerates how tired we feel right now; but, you know, there IS something reassuring about feeling a little pain, doesn't seem like you should be able to fly across the Atlantic Ocean in only 7 hours or so without some sort of consequence! Something in me believes that it shouldn't be so easy... BUT we're here, and without incident! Small miracles do happen, our flights are on time, our bags made it through, and with characteristic customs-ham-and-bomb-sniffing-dogs' efficiency, we were through Italian customs before we even knew what happened! Car rental was a breeze and since Spencer enjoys the elastic rules of the road in Italy, in his half-asleep-mostly giddy state got us all to where we needed to be! It is fun to start collecting Terra Madre participants along the way, at each leg of the journey - we make fast and easy friends, reassured by the fact that we're all in this together. I can't believe I am sharing this experience with 5000 other farmers, chefs, producers, activists, educators and students!
First impressions of the organization of Terra Madre are always so refreshing, our tags with our names already on them are ready for us to wear, spontaneous music erupts from every corner and inspiring words are all shared at the opening ceremonies. The founder of Slow Food, and soul-stirring speaker, Carlo Petrini, shared his vision for the next 4 days, and his hopes for us in our journey through Terra Madre: the farmers, elders, women and natives are the keepers of the stories, traditions, techniques and history of our collective foodways - it is our duty in this generation to not be shy or fearful of learning from these people, or the greatest knowledge base of our food systems will disappear. To that end, Terra Madre is focusing on the dying languages of our native peoples, and invited 4 individual representatives from Australian aborigines, the Gamo (Ethiopia), the Kamchadal (Russia), the Sami (Sweden) and the Guaranì (Brazil) to present the plight of their native people and the importance of preserving their values and traditions for future generations. Carlo was emphatic when he said, “We must have a dialogue between science and traditional knowledge,” he said. “The main holders of this knowledge are native peoples, women, farmers and elders. Not only should they be listened to, but should be at the front line for the challenges this world and the crisis present us. Yet these are the people least considered by politicians and media.” He also talked about the need for Terra Madre, this gathering of 5,000 individuals, and what that means. "Fraternity," he said, "without fraternity there can be no understanding...the value of the meeting, the getting together, the listening to and exchanging of ideas - THAT is the miracle of Terra Madre." And, in a day full of small miracles, it truly does feel like collecting 5000 people from around the globe to come together and talk about our collective responsibility to our food system... well, it does feel like a miracle indeed.

Ready to tackle workshops tomorrow after a long day of travel!