Turin, Italy -- At Slow Food Nation in San Francisco back in August, drinking bottled water was simply not done. At several points, the event's organizers had installed dispensers that proudly poured filtered city water. Socially, clutching a plastic water bottle was tantamount to digging into a greasy McDonald's bag for a handful of fries.
The water situation couldn't have been more different at Terra Madre. The event offered no free water -- to quench your thirst, there were stands peddling bottles of a brand called Lurisia in points throughout.
Lurisa was in fact a major sponsor. The company had a huge display in the middle of the Salon de Gusto, featuring little shrines to bottled water and even offering classes to children to teach them the importance of (bottled) water in a healthy diet. At least the Lurisia water tasted great (Elizabeth Royte, excuse me).
The other thing that got on my nerves was the coffee situation. Levazza, a large-scale coffee roster based in Turin, was also a major sponsor. And it evidently got the exclusive right to sell espresso on the floor of the Salone de Gusto. At several stands throughout the floor, they sold espresso made not from fresh-ground beans, but rather from preground beans packed in little plastic pods.
Amid a bounty of glorious wine, cheese, cured meat, and more, Levazza was peddling an industrial and inferior product (and generating loads of plastic waste). Any bar in Turin pulls a better shot than what was on offer on the floor of the Salone.
If only the concession had gone to Rome's great Caffe Sant'Eustachio.
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Rebecca T of HonestMeat Posted 3:27 am
03 Nov 2008
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gregs Posted 4:24 pm
03 Nov 2008
The Lavazza thing with their horrible pods is the big disappointment, however. After all, if Slow Food can support the Pausa Café efforts (as publicized at a Slow Food Nation coffee industry function) and sell the stuff at Torino's Eataly, one must assume that some serious concessions were made for Terre Madre's, well, concessions.
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^sv
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cmf212 Posted 8:16 pm
08 Nov 2008
Regarding Rebecca's comment about Terra Madre, "the whole experience lacked any real substance or even purpose (in 2006)" - I couldn't disagree more. For me, the underlying theme of Terra Madre was giving much needed pride and respect back to farmers around the world. And it goes much deeper than that of course, because hundreds of cultures were together in the same room exchanging stories and experiences. It was a very moving few days for me.
Salone del Gusto is another story, of course, since it is open to the general public and therefore people that have perhaps less awareness than the average Terra Madre goer. But, again, we're all learning and I think it's a way for people to go and experience food where the farmers/producers are there, have a chat, perhaps learn something that changes their habits in small, but meaningful ways.
Greetings,
Claudia
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