The very first worldwide Terra Madre Day is to be held on December 10, 2009 to celebrate locally produced food that is good, clean and fair. It is also the 20th anniversary of the Slow Food Movement.
While there are more than 820 celebrations and gatherings currently arranged for next week, it was the desire of the Slow Food Movement to increase its focus on taste education for children that caught my eye.
In activities held in schools in 11 countries in Europe and reaching more than 9,000 children, communities will be invited to tasting sessions, events, workshops and discussions, focusing on the recently launched ‘Slow Food in the Canteen’ program, recently launched by the Slow Food Movement. In the words of the Slow Food Movement:
Start with Taste Education, add a School Garden, involve parents, sprinkle in local producers, leave to settle for a couple of months, give a stir and make a more sustainable canteen, which has a lesser impact on the environment and a greater impact on the community.
While there is a notable lack of Australian school involvement in these worldwide celebrations, it’s worth noting that many of the ‘ingredients’ for Taste Education are already in place, thanks in no small part to Stephanie Alexander who established the Collingwood College Kitchen Garden in 2003. Originally designed as a community garden for use by local schools, primary school-aged children were encouraged to spend one period a week tending the vegetables, and a double period each week cooking their produce and sharing their meal.
Thanks to the Victorian Government and continued support from the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program (SAKGP) there are now more than 40 Victorian schools that participate in the jointly funded program. The Federal Government supplied funding to expand the program nationally, with grant applications closing in October 2009, for commencement in June 2010. Other states have local programs with many schools that now have their own gardens and programs in place to cook or prepare food. In NSW, kitchen gardens are in schools in Middle Dural, Bondi and in Forster.
Why hasn’t the SAKGP been promoted as part of Terre Madre? Here are all the ingredients for recognition under the Taste Education umbrella – an enthusiastic community, passion for local ingredients, a commitment to seasonal produce, cooked and shared with love as part of a school eating program. This is a world-renowned program, right on our doorstep, visited by dignitaries and celebrity chefs and educators and we should be banging this drum as loud as possible.
Step forward Stephanie and take a bow. Thanks to you, children know what celeriac, kale, tangelos and pippin apples taste like. Thanks to these children, whole families are eating better, experimenting with a wider variety of meals and sharing the love at the table. You should be our Taste Education ambassador.
Further Information:
http://www.kitchengardenfoundation.org.au
http://www.growingcommunities.org.au/main/
http://www.schoolwebsites.com.au/web/Default.aspx?PageID=3153&SiteID=72