The event program includes educational workshops, discussion panels, and artistic performances.
The diversity of family and peasant agriculture, along with the nuances of biodiversity and Brazilian food culture, are integrated into the online format of the 3rd edition of Terra Madre Brasil (TMB), which takes place between November 17 and 22, 2020.
The event is co-organized by the Government of the State of Bahia, through the Secretariat of Rural Development/Company for Development and Regional Action (SDR/CAR). The program is part of the international event Terra Madre – Salone del Gusto 2020, launched between October 8th and 12th, and continues for six months until April 2021, during which the Slow Food International Congress takes place.
To see the full event schedule, click here.
Family farmers, extractivists, artisanal fishermen, cheesemakers, meliponiculturists, quilombola communities, indigenous peoples, traditional peoples and communities, activists, journalists, and cooks who make up the diverse mosaic of the Slow Food network meet virtually at Terra Madre Brasil 2020.
“Due to the pandemic, we opted to maintain the event this year by changing the format. In this way, the Slow Food movement in Brazil can continue with strength and renewed vigor in 2021,” says Valentina Bianco, coordinator of institutional partnerships at the Slow Food Association of Brazil.
Despite the lack of in-person activities, the event organizers see opportunities in this new format. “Numerous points should be highlighted as advantages, such as expanding the event's reach, the possibility of its extension, and also the idea of starting in an environment where choices and consumption are made consciously,” emphasizes Guilherme Cerqueira Martins e Souza, Market Intelligence Coordinator for the Bahia Produtiva Project, carried out by CAR.
Agenda
For this edition, three thematic axes have been incorporated to guide the entire program: Food Culture and Biodiversity, Food Education, Food and Nutritional Security and School Feeding, and Political Advocacy and Mobilization of Civil Society. Terra Madre Brasil coincides with Black Awareness Day on November 20th, and will have a program dedicated to the Diaspora and Afro-Brazilian Cuisine.
Among the activities are 15 Roundtable Discussions with members of the Slow Food Brazil network — from rural and urban communities — and partner organizations for debates and strengthening joint initiatives across the three thematic areas. The program includes 2 major Dialogues, spaces for problematization, collective reflection, and inspiration on the food system and its impacts on food culture, social justice, and ecological balance, with the participation of activists and opinion leaders.
Conversation Circles, Dialogues and Taste Workshops
The Roundtable Discussions begin on November 17th at 2 PM with an Opening Panel composed of activist Bela Gil, Georges Schnyder (president of the Slow Food Association of Brazil), Dionete Figueiredo (reference figure at the Slow Food Fortress of Baru and leader of the Copabase/MG cooperative), Wilson Dias (President – Director of CAR), and greetings from Carlo Petrini (founder of the Slow Food movement).
At 16 PM, there will be a Roundtable Discussion on Tools for Recognizing Food Heritage and Culture (MAPA, FAO, IPHAN, Slow Food), and at 18 PM, a virtual meeting on Food Culture and Public Policies, moderated by Lina Luz (School of Social Gastronomy – CE), which will include among the participants Tainá Marajoara (Iacitátá Cultural Center – PA) and Célio Turino (responsible for the creation of...). Living Culture Program, policy of the Ministry of Culture 2004-2010).
The Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) model is also among the topics to be discussed in the Roundtables on November 18th at 2 PM. CSAs aim to transform consumers into active voices in a fairer and more sustainable purchasing system. Confirmed participants include Rafael Coimbra, Wagner Ferreira dos Santos, and Claudia Vivaqua.
November 20th is dedicated to the thematic axis Diaspora and Afro-Brazilian Cuisine. From 4 PM to 5:30 PM, the "Food from the Terreiro" Dialogue will take place. The discussion will address the cultural importance of ingredients that gain spiritual significance in regions of African origin. The conversation is inspired by the original knowledge derived from symbolic experiences in the terreiros (Afro-Brazilian religious spaces).
The stories of Black women in the kitchen and the strong identity of Black women born in the early 20th century inspired the creation of the book *As mulheres das Colheres de Pau* (The Women of the Wooden Spoons), which is not yet published. This cultural theme will be the central topic of the meeting *A Resistência das Mulheres Negras: alimentos que resiste, alimentos que conecta* (The Resistance of Black Women: Food that Resists, Food that Connects), which takes place from 6:00 PM to 7:30 PM.
On the 21st/22nd, at 11 am, the "Feeding Pandemics" Dialogue, with the confirmed participation of activist and journalist Soledad Barruti (Argentina), and researchers Beta Recine (DF) and Paulo Artaxo (SP), proposes reflections on the global pandemic that compromises our future: obesity, malnutrition, climate collapse, and COVID-19.
Also on the weekend's program, the "Other Possible Paths Dialogue" offers paths of inspiration and resilience based on the interconnection between food, nature, and society. Other ways of living and organizing, with food as the central premise, will be explored through the perspectives of Jera Guarani (Guarani cosmology) and Tiganá Santana (Bantu cosmologies), among the confirmed participants, with Frei Betto as moderator.
The educational space will consist of a program involving 16 activities, including workshops for children and taste workshops, promoting closer ties between cooks from the Slow Food network who work to value Brazilian biomes and ecosystems and representatives of rural communities engaged in safeguarding foods that are part of the Ark of Taste: an international catalog of plant-based, animal-based, and processed foods that are the result of traditional techniques and knowledge and make up Brazilian socio-biodiversity.
Among the ingredients in the catalog are fruits from the Caatinga biome such as umbu, Caatinga passion fruit, and licuri – all of which will be used and presented in the Taste Workshop: Caatinga biome. Native breeds of goats and sheep and conservation techniques related to goat hide will be the main focus of the workshop led by cook Bruna Moreira, born in the interior of Bahia in the semi-arid region. The activity is followed by a chat with Denise Cardoso, born in the traditional community of Fundo de Pasto de Caladinho, in the interior of Curaçá, Bahia, and president of the Coopercuc Cooperative, which is part of the Fortress of Umbu and Caatinga Passion Fruit, moderated by researcher Marcelo Terça-Nada.
The differences between honey from native bees and honey from Apis bees will be the central theme of the Taste Workshop, led by Carlos Alexandre Demeterco (facilitator for Slow Food Brazil and master in agriculture in the humid tropics), with the participation of the family farming couple Salete and Benedito, native bee breeders in Mandirituba - PR, and the chef Rodrigo Bellora, from the Valle Rústico restaurant (Vale dos Vinhedos – RS).
Artistic presentations
Terra Madre Brasil also features a rich program of artistic presentations, including documentaries, shows, films, and talks, which will take place at the end of the day, starting at 7:30 pm. Confirmed participants include Chico César (November 17th, from 7:30 pm to 8:30 pm) and Alessandra Leão (November 22nd, from 7:30 pm to 8:30 pm). On November 19th, from 7:30 pm to 8:30 pm, it's Slow Food in Film Day with the premiere of the documentary Dois Riachões: Cacau e Liberdade (Two Rivers: Cocoa and Freedom).
The Terra Madre Brasil 2020 platform and content will also include an interactive map dedicated to Slow Food Communities, Family Farming, and Geographical Indications, as well as an art installation that seeks to reproduce the universe of cassava and flour production. The "Casa de Farinha" (Flour House) section will focus on the North region, the center of origin of cassava; the Northeast, with its flour houses; and the South, with its sugar mills. This space will highlight the heritage, food and nutritional security, and food culture aspects that permeate the territories where flours are produced using traditional techniques and knowledge.
About Slow Food Brazil
Slow Food emerged in protest against the first McDonald's store in Italy in 1986, in political, symbolic and philosophical opposition to fast food and what this food model represents: the massive standardization of poor quality food, the chemical-dependent agricultural model of large-scale production and unfair working conditions.
Activists and advocates of the Slow Food philosophy are part of local action groups called Slow Food Communities, which bring together people from various backgrounds and with diverse interests related to food. These groups weave a food network with the potential to think about and build alternatives to the current food system at local, regional, and global levels.
In Brazil, the movement arrived in Rio de Janeiro in 2000, and held its first two editions of Terra Madre in 2007 and 2010, both in Brasília. Since 2013, the Slow Food Brazil network has had the institutional support of the Slow Food Brazil Association, a Public Interest Civil Society Organization that acts as guardian of the Slow Food programs, philosophy, and brand in Brazil.
Regarding CAR
With the mission of promoting regional development through socio-productive inclusion, the Government of Bahia, through the Company for Development and Regional Action – CAR, has been strongly committed to combating poverty in rural communities, prioritizing the strengthening of family farming, solidarity economy, marketing, territorialization, water security, coping with drought, and sustainable environmental management.
CAR has focused on regional potential, encouraging associations and cooperatives that invest in activities and products capable of effectively generating employment and income, and stimulating the development of various production chains, such as beekeeping, goat farming, fruit growing, sheep and goat farming, chocolate production, and milk processing.