Carlo Petrini, Founder of Terra Madre and International Slow Food Movement,
surrounded by representatives from the 150 participating nations, at the opening ceremony.

 

The EduCulture Project at Global Source achieved global reach when founder and managing director Jon Garfunkel was invited to be part of a delegation from Kitsap County, WA to Terra Madre 2010, an international convocation of food communities, held in Turin, Italy, with 5,000 people from over 150 countries. Other Kitsap County Delegates were County Commissioner Charlotte Garrido, who founded the Kitsap Food Chain and launched a Kitsap County food and farm policy council, and Rob Purser, Community Leader and Director of Fisheries Program for the Suquamish Tribe.

EduCulture’s Jon Garfunkel enjoyed getting to know Matthew Johns, who works with honey hunters and other indigenous food producers in Southern India.

 

Co-Kitsap County Delegate Rob Purser, representing the Suquamish Tribe, looking over the floor of the conference hall.

 

Another highlight was the opportunity to step outside the rich heritage and unique food traditions of our own Salmon Nation – the bioregion of Pacific Northwest – and develop a much deeper appreciation for relationship of place and taste of other food regions of the US as well the larger planet. Jon came home with tools and resources to put our locally grown work in a global context.

This experience connected our Pacific Northwest food community with food communities all over the world, as well as connected us with the amazing global community of Terra Madre.

One major takeaway from the Terra Madre experience was the opportunity to more fully understand and deeply embrace the meaning of “slow” and “co-producer” in the context of food, farming, culture and education.

It was an incredible honor for Jon and EduCulture to participate in such a global event. In Spring 2012, Jon again served as a delegate to Terra Madre, traveling to Turin in late October and joining with 3,000 people representing local food communities from 150 countries and many indigenous regions in an incredible gathering organized by Slow Food International. Jon met and worked with people from all over the world on edible education issues.  It was interesting to observe how many of local food communities around the world are in the same situation, dealing with issues such as the rise of obesity and access to fresh local foods.

 

Jon Garfunkel with Alice Waters, founder of the Edible Schoolyard in Berkeley, CA, and Jon’s role model for edible education, at the Closing Ceremony of Terra Madre 2010.

 

Many thanks to Slow Food USA for sponsoring Jon’s participation at Terra Madre.  As in 2010, it was an experience that informs the work of EduCulture in many meaningful ways.

Click here to learn more about Terra Madre around the world

Click here to learn more about Terra Madre in the USA

Click here to learn more about the International Slow Food Movement

Click here to learn about Slow Food USA