Ulladulla’s young foodies could help kick start a national Slow Food Youth movement.
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Slow Food Shoalhaven member Marianne Cool will talk about her plans to set up the youth program during the organisation’s national conference to be held in Ulladulla next month.
Marianne has been inspired by the passionate youth in her native Netherlands and hopes the movement will take off in Australia.
Shoalhaven has the largest Slow Food convivium in Australia, with 120 members, and about 70 of those are based in the Milton-Ulladulla area.
Marianne said there were more and more young people keen to become involved in the world of food to gain a better understanding of the food system they will inherit.
“The Netherlands has one of the most active and successful Slow Food Youth programmes for 18 to 30-year-olds,” she said.
“They have set up a network where they work on projects and organise their own get togethers, allowing them to exchange knowledge and experience with other young foodies from all over the world.
“I’ve been in contact with them a few times now to see how we can replicate their success in Australia, including in our own Shoalhaven region.”
Marianne believes it is important for children, from an early age, to know where their food comes from and how the food choices they make affect the world around them.
“We would love to set up a similar Slow Food Youth organisation in Australia and to help members work together with young foodies in other countries, so they will have a much better chance to create hands-on solutions for the future of our food.”
In October Slow Food is organising Terra Madre Giovani - we feed the planet - around the Milan EXPO 2015.
“Feeding the planet is the biggest challenge our younger generation has to face, and we’re looking to bring together more than 2000 young farmers, chefs, fishermen and small scale producers to share their ideas and help develop new initiatives to redefine the future of food,” Marianne said.
“From Australia, six delegates have been nominated to attend and there is a crowd-funding campaign to generate money for them to travel to Milan.”
Marianne will talk with conference delegates about the role young people can play in the future of food as well as the Ark of Taste, one of the big international projects that Slow Food is working on.
“The Ark of Taste is a catalogue of forgotten and endangered quality food products that belong to the cultures, history and traditions of the entire planet,” she said.
So far, the ark has reached an incredible 2,050 food products from 83 countries worldwide including 17 from Australia.
The Australian Ark currently includes the South Coast Angassi Oyster and Slow Food Shoalhaven is working together with Ulladulla’s Noel Butler to identify more local indigenous foods that may be included in the Ark of Taste.
Passionate foodies from all over Australia will get a taste of what the region’s producers have to offer when they converge on the Ulladulla Civic Centre for the four-day national Slow Food Conference from August 20.
Any young people interested in helping set up the youth group should contact Slow Food Shoalhaven president Rosie Cupitt on 4455 7888 or via email: info@slowfoodshoalhaven.com.au
