Regeneration: the theme of Terra Madre Salone del Gusto

15 March 2022

The theme of Terra Madre Salone del Gusto 2022 is regeneration.

The 14th edition of the event will be held in a redeveloped, ex-industrial area of the city: Parco Dora.

Terra Madre Salone del Gusto returns to Turin from September 22 to 26. The 14th edition of the largest international event dedicated to good, clean and fair food, organized by Slow Food together with the City of Turin and the Piedmont Region, which will be held in Parco Dora, an ex-industrial area which has been the subject of significant urban redevelopment work over the last 15 years.

The festival will bring to life these spaces which were once home to factories and steelworks, now transformed into a new green lung for the city, and it’s through this meeting of past and present that we’ll develop the theme of this year’s edition: Regeneration.

Parco Dora
Parco Dora, Area Vitali, CC BY 3.0, https://it.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4332227

The market returns, with exhibitors selected according to Slow Food criteria. There’ll be producers from across Italy and the world who, as well as meeting visitors, can take part in initiatives with buyers and industry professionals in collaboration with the Turin Chamber of Commerce and the University of Gastronomic Sciences. They’ll also be the protagonists of a series of activities within Terra Madre, from tastings to conferences.

Interested in being an exhibitor at Terra Madre? Write to espositori@slowfood.it

Dreaming of regeneration

To regenerate: this is the verb which will guide us in the coming months, which should have seen us turn our focus back to the climate crisis as we recover from two years of the Covid-19 pandemic, but which are made even more complicated by the international geopolitical situation.

Regenerating doesn’t mean rebuilding so much as to revive. It’s a universal theme: as a tree regenerates a lost branch, so the soil impoverished by monocultures and pesticides can be regenerated through agroecology. Mountain areas at risk of abandonment can be regenerated too, through an attentive form of pastureland farming.

Our waters, both fresh and marine, can be regenerated through the traditional knowledge and culture of small-scale fishers and their low-impact practices; our cities, meanwhile, can reduce the distance between places of production and consumption, and restore visibility to the people behind the food we eat every day.

We’ll talk about regeneration from multiple points of view, focusing on an (eco)-systemic approach and what that means for our food: what is today, and what it should be.

Regeneration is also an open invitation, after these years marked by the difficulties of the pandemic and all the way it has damaged relations between people and communities: we need a new outlook, and a new enthusiasm.

Welcome back, Turin!

Terra Madre 2018, ph. Alessandro Vargiu

Turin has always been the home of Terra Madre Salone del Gusto, even in 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic forced to us change format and move much of the program online. The experience gained through that edition, which lasted seven months instead of five days, from October 2020 to April 2021, has left us with a precious heritage, starting with the extraordinary level of participation: We reached over 10 million people online, and involved more than 285,000 in physical events around the world. This was made possible through an enormous amount of events, 1146 in total, of which 474 were held in person across 75 countries.

For this reason, the 2022 edition, which marks a return to Turin with all its colors, aromas and voices, will continue to be a hybrid event. Those who can’t make it to Parco Dora will be able to take part in a series of online activities and live Terra Madre Salone del Gusto 2022 wherever they are, as well as in physical events organized by the Slow Food network around the world.

The festival in Turin has always been a great example of dialog and inclusion, and it will be so again this year, more than ever, as Terra Madre shows how food can be a bridge to peace. And how, together, we can cultivate a better future.

Terra Madre Salone del Gusto is in Parco Dora, Turin, from September 22-26. The market, tastings, conferences and exhibition spaces: regenerating the world through good. #TerraMadre2022. Sign up to the Slow Food International newsletter for all the latest updates!

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