December 10th is Terra Madre Day.
A Slow Food initiative that is recognised the world over, and coming together as an international day for the third time.
What is it about?
Celebrating eating locally
Supporting small scale farmers
Sharing cooking knowledge
Slow food
There is a whole lot of wonderful things planned for this period around the world. Click here for an interactive map to let you know what’s happening in your area. From Brunch on the Grass, in Maleny- Australia to The Joy of Preserving, in Vancouver- Canada to a whole page of wonderful goings on in Italy.
If none of these community events take your fancy, a small thing you can do is question where your food for the day is coming from. Try and buy local within (160 kms or 100 miles), or at least within your own country. Support small scale farmers and businesses. If you are really inspired, give someone a cooking lesson. Cooking knowledge is easily passed on to another when you have a willing teacher. How to preserve jam or make bread is a wonderful way to start.
Oodles more information
extra reading
cityhippyfarmgirl 
I am doing that right now, slow cooking some of my own grass fed beef in a dutch oven on my woodstove.. wonderful..c
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Now that’s the kind of low food miles I like C.
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thanks brydie..i’d not heard about ‘terra madre day’ before but i whole heartedly embrace the slow food concept..
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Is this thing on? My wife says the only slow cooker we have in our house is me. Thanks, I’ll be here all week!
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I’m so thrilled you posted on this in advance. Inevitably I discover these things were on after the date in question, and end up feeling one step behind everyone else. I’ll be well prepared for the 10th! I love the concept, too, and will confess that I don’t always give enough thought to where my food originated (location wise).
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Love it! I am currently reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (finally!) at the moment, and highly recommend it to anyone who hasn’t read it yet… an entertaining, informative and inspirational read about local food/ slow food!
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It’s a great book isn’t it Dixie. I really enjoyed it.
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A friend of ours was lucky enough to go to Turin for last year’s festival (sigh). I’ll be celebrating here. Thanks for the reading ideas, something to pop on my Christmas list!
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Alison how wonderful for your friend, (big sigh indeed!)
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Step by small step it all makes a difference.. love the slow cooking movement, I’m into a slow life:)
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thanks for sharing this 🙂
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Nothing in my area. Darn.
I do a lot of slow cooking: 7-hour leg of lamb, beef stew. I’m about to start up a pot of chicken vegetable soup this morning for dinner tonight. I don’t have a crock pot; no room to store it. I just use a very low heat in the oven.
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What a cool day … I miss community things like that (and living in Maleny). Slow food/buying from local farmers is gaining some awareness here but not to that scale of organisation. Thanks for sharing the links …
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Ohhh, you used to live in Maleny. I have a sneaky suspicion that I would rather enjoy living in that area.
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I had forgotten about this day and am glad to see this post…and find your blog. We eat as locally as possible, support small farms and grow what we can, and have rearranged our lives and eating habits around it in the last 3 years. It’s wonderful!
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Good to hear from another like minded soul 🙂
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Thanks so much for this post, Brydie. I love ideas like this and will slot it into my calendar for next year…perhaps even tie it in with the farmstay. We have so many great producers in our local area that would probably love the idea too.
Thankgoodness for you guys in the city who keep reminding even us farmers that locally produced is best .You start to think no one is thinking about it when you walk into your own country woolworths and see oranges from California sitting there and you know that you have orange orchards nearby !
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Kim, I really hope you do have time to organise something for next year. The possibilities could be pretty amazing just thinking about it, plus tying it in with your farmstay even better. Your area is stunning and has a huge amount of stuff that is grown within a relatively small area- Californian oranges? please no 😦
Bloggers picnic? Long lunch under some trees?
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Hey thanks for pointing this out! I’ve had a locavore post brewing in my bloggy backwaters for a while so just published it and mentioned you.
I am a failed locavore. I live in Alice Springs! But we do try.
Sar
accidentallentil.blogspot.com
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Not a failed locavore, a tried really hard locavore! Alice would be really hard.
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What a fabulous idea and I do try to buy local produce wherever possible.
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Thanks for all of the links. These will make for great reading.
There are some great Terra Madre videos on YouTube.
This post reminds me that I need to finish reading Slow Food Nation when I get back to Australia.
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