This is a CTP of initiative: Slow Food Araba-Vitoria (Spain)
The participation of the local convivium in the international fair “Salone del Gusto and Terra Madre” that Slow Food organizes biannually in Turin has been a critical moment in the history of the convivium Slow Food Araba-Vitoria (SFAV). The interviewee refers to the positive feedback that their participation in every edition - from 2004 to 2014 -has had for the association but focuses especially on the 2014’s Salone del Gusto and Terra Madre, due to her personal involvement in the activity as well as because of the impact this Salone del Gusto had both for the association and for producers who attended.
The 2014’s Salone del Gusto took place between October 23-27 in Turin and, in parallel, the "Terra Madre" forum was held. According to the official figures, the Salone del Gusto 2014 received around 220,000 visitors and the Terra Madre World meeting gathered together for 5 days over 1,600 food communities, cooks, teachers and young people committed to family farming and the Ark of Taste project.
SFAV's partners consider that Terra Madre 2014 has been a critical moment for SFAV. First due to the media stir of both events, which transcended Italian borders (400 journalists from 63 countries excluding the Italian press and numerous Spanish media -including two Basque radios: Radio Vitoria and Radio Euskadi-) which provided extensive coverage to the participation of Slow Food Araba Vitoria. To these must be added the television appearance SFAV on Italian and British television shows, which led the BBC to make a documentary about oil produced in the Rioja Alavesa; "allowing small-scale producers to report extraordinary stories related to their product." According to Slow Food representatives, media coverage of the event has had an impact in terms of recognition and Slow Food Araba-Vitoria estimates that Slow Food producers in Araba increased their sales by almost 10% on average since Terra Madre 2014 and that some producers - such as the ones making shepherd's goat cheese – even increased their sales between 20 and 30 per cent.
Second, the participation of Slow Food Araba-Vitoria in Terra Madre 2014 was a critical moment in terms of their organizational maturity and institutional recognition. The interviewee perceives a clear evolution in the organization. Terra Madre 2014 allowed them to show to the entire movement the results of the intense work carried out by the convivium Slow Food Araba-Vitoria over the last decade. In special, they present SFAV´s Ark of Taste products.
The local chapter has dedicated much effort in the recovery of products at risk of extinction and some of them have been included in the Slow Food´s international catalogue, others have the received the recognition of being a “Slow Food Presidia”. In 2014, a delegation of 20 people, (producers, cooks and volunteers) attended the international event and installed a Slow Food Stand where they spurred various activities, such as one laboratory of taste with wines from the Rioja Alavesa, which gained the attention of 150 participants.
Yes, every time we go there, we grow a little more. We show those products that we have in Araba, we organize some laboratories (...) In 2004 they convivium was created. In 2006, in the first years, only a few producers and cooks used to attend because we still did not have much product from Slow Food Araba to show. And we were not ready mentally. The first two times we attended, we did so to see what this was about, to know and learn. Then, when we already have products in the Ark of Taste we set up a stand to show products from Araba , and people were astonished
The participation of Slow Food Araba-Vitoria in Terra Madre 2014 is the result of a work carried out during 8 years by the Slow Food association in the region of Araba. A work of recovery of native species in danger of extinction that finally have been incorporated into either the Ark of Taste online catalogue or the Presidia project. The total number of SFAV members is 300. However, the levels of involvement among them vary, although the association maintains an open and flexible attitude, with no membership required to participate in their activities.
In Slow Food Araba-Vitoria we were around 20 people when we started and now we are around 300 members. Actually, in less than a year we were about 60-70 partners. After all, the first partners were family, friends, and people from our social groups. Then, producers began to join. Word of mouth worked, also thanks to the activities we organized. People saw what we were doing and approached us. But in the end, it is word of mouth, what we do and what people heard and, little by little, people start joining (...) More and more people join now.
There are people who are not members but they like our philosophy. Maybe they do not sign up because they do not have the time to help. But of course, if you are a member you are already contributing, you are always encouraged to participate in some of the activities. If they are interested, they can attend our activities even if they are not members. The activities are open to everyone, not just to Slow Food members. Usually we invite our members by email to participate in all the activities we organised. Besides, press releases are also sent out so that citizenship is informed. Last week we organized a thematic activity on an organic kind of chicken produced by a folk from Araba. We did a themed dinner, with chicken dishes, etc, and no associates attended also the gathering
The Board of Directors is doing more visible work, especially the president of the local association, Alberto López de Ipiña, who acts as spokesman and representative of the association before the institutions or the press. There is also a group of 20 or 30 people who promote the daily work of the association and a group of producers (farmers, shepherds, etc.) and cooks who were often involved in the activities and who became protagonists in the Salone del Gusto and Terra Madre.
The participation in Terra Madre has also been supported economically by public institutions from the Basque Country, which also gave funds for the installation of a stand in the Salone del Gusto, or to cover the displacement of small food producers. This has been possible thanks to the collaboration agreements Slow Food has signed with the Provincial Government of Araba for "the promotion of native and typical products of the Province of Araba, organic crops and hand-made food ". Slow Food Araba-Vitoria has been able to convey to the institutions the strategic relevance that the participation in this type of international forums has for the primary sector of Araba, both in economic and advertising terms, as well as involving learning for small producers.
Regarding the events related to the turning point, it should be noted in the first place that this turning point would not have existed if Slow Food International had not promoted, in 2004, the Terra Madre international meeting - which has been celebrated every two years since then in the city of Turin. The interviewee qualified this event as a first turning point, previous even to the existence of the Slow Food Araba-Vitoria local convivium. In October 2004, the current president of SFAV, along with a small group of local activists and producers, was invited to participate in Terra Madre's first edition. This small group of 5 people was positively surprised by the size and global reach of the movement. They felt identified with the goals and values ??represented by the network and decided to create a local convivium in Araba in January 2005. Slow Food Araba Vitoria continued to participate in international Slow Food events thereafter.
A second related event also takes place in October 2014. Simultaneously to Terra Madre 2012, the 6th International Slow Food Congress was held, attended by 650 delegates from 95 countries. In that Congress, the president of Slow Food Araba-Vitoria is elected member of the international board of Slow Food, representing the convivia of Spain and Portugal. The presence of López de Ipiña in the Board is also considered by SFAV a turning point in the history of the local initiative, which has contributed to the social and institutional recognition of Slow Food in the region of Araba.
The interviewee links the participation of SFAV in the Salone del Gusto 2014 with an increase in terms of both reputation and self-esteem among the local producers that participated in the Salone, together with an increase in the sales level of the products from Araba included in the Ark of the Taste:
When we see people getting ahead we feel especially proud of how they do the things they do. They now believe and see themselves that what they have been doing for a long time was well done and they have to pull forward because this is going to help them sell their product better. They become aware and they are delighted, now. That's the role Slow Food plays
According to the economic figures the association handles, their presence in the event favoured an increase in the sales volume, an increase of the prices in the market and the overall growth of producers1. However, this positive impact on the development of a greener market place, of organic and local products, is not due to a specific event or solely to the media stir of the Salone del Gusto. According to the respondent, this impact is based on the daily work the association carries out in the local context, with about 70 educational activities and involving the promotion of local products:
"We tried to inform and make people aware that if they do things differently, maybe at the beginning they will have lower productivity, but in the long term, doing things well, it will be more productive (...) With regard to consumers, we try to make them pay more attention on the labels of products they buy. We tell them that, when possible, it is always better to buy directly to producers. Because, in the end, intermediaries grab all the money. I think people have to read more and learn where food comes from. Because a product may be organic, but if it comes from Chile, it is not sustainable. It is not like bringing it from the village which is 15 minutes from Vitoria. Local producers sell it in the street markets or either through the “food basket” they bring you home once a week, and we see the latter more and more"
1 http://slowfoodaraba.es/jornada-dedicada-a-los-productos-alaveses-en-el-arca-del-gusto.htm
The interviewee did not recall any case of internal or external opposition to the association's participation in Terra Madre 2014 or previous editions, when their level of involvement was lower. She does remember that in the early years of the association, the perception of it by the institutions was not so positive, or at least, their commitment to Slow Food was not as relevant as today. SFAV members recognize that it took them a number of years to become known and gain a certain reputation at the regional level, so that institutions or other entities could fund their projects.
Despite this, 2014 meant an acknowledgment of the association's work for nearly a decade. As a result, almost 20 people, activists and producers, were able to travel to Turin and to have institutional support for it. Even during the economic crisis of recent years, SFAV has maintained the agreements with local governments, which has allowed them to participate again in the Salone Del Gusto 2016 (held in September 2016 in Turin).
Currently, Slow Food is a highly regarded association among the citizens of Vitoria and the province of Araba. The local convivium Slow Food Araba-Vitoria has the capacity to promote projects that contribute to both local economic development and the generation of jobs in the rural context. Food producers themselves explicitly recognize the support they receive from Slow Food and how it favors product enhancement.
"Producers are delighted. For example, few years ago they sent us emails asking if we wanted to buy a piece of meat. Now they have waiting lists, when they kill their organic veals or colts like the Alavesa Mountain colt meat or the Terreña1 cattle. More and more, farmers are selling their produce directly and sending baskets of vegetables and legumes that they grow directly in their gardens. Where I buy the newspaper, the shopkeeper has ordered one of these baskets. I asked her about that and she was delighted! She said she had never eaten such wonderful tomatoes. They were seasonal products. She had not eaten such good tomatoes for years. At the end, people are recovering their memory on food. We still remember some specific flavors that we keep in memory. And it is not the same to eat a tomato from the supermarket, with no flavor, than buying them in the local market ".
1 The Terreña cattle is a breed local to the Basque Country that is at risk of extinction. Despite the fact that this population has decreased in recent years because of random crossing, some cattle breeders are working hard to preserve this breed from disappearing.
There is a certain consensus among Slow Food Araba-Vitoria partners - at least among those most active or more involved in the association's activities - in considering SFAV's participation in Terra Madre 2014 a critical point in the history of the local convivium. This is due to the media impact that has had both at international and local level and because it has favored the increase of credibility of Slow Food among the Araba society.
Slow Food activists are proud to represent their region in one of the most important gastronomic events in Europe and they present the work developed by producers from Araba regarding the recovery of 18 indigenous products that are organically produced.
However, the interviewee indicates that the evolution of Slow Food Araba-Vitoria is due to a continuous process of work over time and that the success of SFAV's participation in the taste room of 2014 was, in this sense predictable, according to the results of its participation in the four previous editions. Year after year, the impact of Slow Food activities has been greater and in recent years Slow Food Araba-Vitoria has been gaining social influence.
The representatives of Slow Food agree on the perception that the association is known by the vast majority of the inhabitants of Vitoria-Gasteiz and, to a lesser extent, by the rest of the population from Araba. Also, Slow Food was involved in the different consultation forums promoted by the city council.
When it comes to reflecting on the learning that arises from the participation of Slow Food Araba-Vitoria in Terra Madre or the Salone del Gusto, the interviewee does not focus only on the experience of 2014, but on what she has perceived throughout the five editions in which SFAV has been present. Thus, in the first place, it highlights the positive impact on motivation that this international event has on producers and cooks. Being present at the Slow Food stand, being able to introduce your home to thousands of people is a source of pride. The motivating effect that this event has on producers is highlighted, since it increases the self-esteem of producers, many of whom, until now, used to felt forgotten by institutions or even alone in their struggle to preserve a traditional way of producing or processing food. Activists feel part of a global community, a large family, united by a common goal and networking:
For example, the young cooks of Slow Food Araba were amazed. Because they have met Ferrán Adrià, and other renowned chefs from all over the world. Farmers and ranchers stayed with local families, so that they get in contact with local people. The young people were together in a residence. During the day they went to Terra Madre, attended the talks, etc. And then, at night, they lived together, chatted and prepared parties. That contact also enriches them. They help each other. One do not feel out of place. You are integrated, because there is a reason that unites us all. This year Terra Madre will be different. It is going to be done in the street at landmarks in Turin. It will be more spectacular. You will be hosted by people from Turin, from the city, because in Lingotto1 you are in an enclosure, but you would not be in contact with people from the city. I imagine last years’ experience and it will be even better
The international meeting of Terra Madre is a forum for discussion and learning that allows the exchange of knowledge between equals on sectoral problems such as family agriculture (central theme in 2014), problems of women in the countryside or, as the interviewee points out, the working and living conditions of indigenous communities or peasants in developing countries. Terra Madre brings a global vision of what the Slow Food movement means. But it has also improved the understanding of the complex economic system that establishes patterns of production and consumption that are unsustainable and socially unfair. Likewise, according to the interview, conviviality, friendship and solidarity are manifested in a special way in these events:
Terra madre serves for increasing the international acknowledgement of all Basque and Araba's products. And we also see the products of other people, know other ways of working when yo meet with people from other countries. You see people from Peru, Mexico, Africa, Australia, from an endless number of places. Each one has its own methods and techniques. Not all of us have the same tools to work with. Sometimes one realize that we must help to developing countries in some way. No by going there, but helping them somehow. Because their products are in danger of disappearance, then things will even worse… Seeing how they live there, how they work, how they do it for living… That’s why you get hooked on it (N.A. the respondent refers to Terra Madre)
I attended for the first time in 2010 and I will continue to attend Terra Madre while I will be to. I can’t explain this feeling in words. You have to experience it for yourself. You see so many different people there! I have never seen any problem. We always help one another. If one is missing something, another would give it to him or her. We help each other. And when we come back, two years later, we start looking for each other, we look for those people you met two years ago. You end up building a kind of friendship
Finally, the interviewee acknowledges that she was personally surprised about the participation of young people and children in Terra Madre and learned about the taste education projects that Slow Food develops in several countries, especially in Italy.
I was shocked at the attitude of children. It caught my attention. Those children were very aware about what good, clean and fair food means. They knew exactly what they wanted to buy. Because in Terra Madre there are people who attend every two years. If you ever participate for a second time, kids already know your product. And they want you to return to taste your product that they liked so much the other time. And some of these children come to visit us with their schools. There are some kids, four or five years old, who were already coming to buy the Añana’s salt, because their parents had already told them that it was very good
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